There are not many that come to mind when trying to find transfers which have aged worse than the £40 million deal which took Max Kilman to West Ham United from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
If Nuno Espirito Santo cannot save his Hammers reputation – Kilman credited the former Wolves boss for teaching him all he knows at Molineux – then who, realistically, can?
Even among an eye-watering and somewhat underwhelming array of mega-money West Ham United transfers, Max Kilman sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb.
While Lucas Paqueta, Mohammed Kudus, Sebastien Haller and even Felipe Anderson had their moments, returns on that £40 million investment remain few and far between when it comes to an error-prone centre-half sitting second in the list of their all-time record signings.
West Ham certainly paid a premium for so-called ‘proven’ Premier League quality. Even in an era where left-sided central defenders are more coveted, and therefore more expensive than ever, Kilman still feels damningly overpriced.
Especially when placed alongside the likes of Omar Alderete. The Sunderland sensation who arrived for a quarter of the fee West Ham paid for Kilman, and has outperformed Nuno’s number three ever since touching down on Wearside.
Max Kilman nightmare shows how West Ham United can learn from Sunderland
Angel Torres, the president of Getafe, made no attempt to hide his frustration when Sunderland snapped up Alderete for just £10 million last summer.
“I sold one of the best centre-backs in the league for peanuts so I could have 16 or 17 players registered,” Torres told Marca, taking aim at the financial restrictions placed on Spanish clubs.
“We say we’re the best league in the world, and then we can’t register our players. We are the laughing stock of Europe!”
La Liga is certainly operating on a very different dimension their Premier League cousins.
Teams in England’s top flight have been emboldened to demand top dollar due to the financial might of the British game. See, Kilman going for £40 million. Dominic Solanke for £65 million, Kalvin Phillips for £42 million, Everton requesting £70 million-plus for Jarrad Branthwaite.
Over in Spain, though, even the best assets are often sold off on the cheap to keep the wolf from the door.
If Sunderland were to cash in on Alderete next summer, presuming there is no Phil Brown, Hull City-era collapse in the second half of the campaign, you can guarantee the Paraguay powerhouse will earn the Black Cats a huge profit on that £10 million investment.
The question is, why are West Ham not shopping in the same market as Sunderland and co? Why, as Jamie Carragher asked on Sky Sports, are West Ham falling behind Brighton, Brentford and Bournemouth?
Jamie Carragher feels David Sullivan is to blame
The answer, Carragher said, and this is one many Hammers fans will agree with, is David Sullivan, and the antiquated recruitment model which has existed under his ownership.
“[How Sullivan runs West Ham] doesn’t feel a modern way of doing things, and that’s where the frustration comes from in that support,” Carragher said after .
“They feel like they look at other clubs who are not a patch on West Ham. And that’s not being disrespectful to Brentford and maybe a Brighton, we look at those two as forward-thinking, modern football clubs the way they run themselves.
“West Ham are a far bigger club than those two clubs I’ve mentioned. But the way they are run right now means they can’t actually compete with them on the pitch.”
Carragher was speaking after the abysmal 2-0 home defeat by Brentford early in the Nuno era.
Keith Andrews’ side dominated from start to finish, with a team chock-full of affordable, intelligent signings brought in from overseas. See Michael Kayode [£13.5 million], Yehor Yarmolyuk [£1.3 million], and Mikkel Damsgaard [£13 million].
Top-scorer Igor Tiago did set Brentford back a club record £30 million. But he is nearly a decade younger than Niclas Fullkrug, the striker West Ham signed for around the same fee, and far more prolific.
And can’t you just imagine West Ham signing Igor Thiago for, say, £50 million? Only for him to flop in claret and blue, and for Brentford to sign a younger, faster, better centre-forward in his place with the proceeds?
West Ham have spent nearly £200m on supposedly ‘proven’ Premier League talent since 2022
Alderete, who cost £30 million less than Kilman, was outstanding in Sunderland’s 1-1 draw away to Liverpool.
Noah Sadiki also cost a fraction of the fee West Ham paid relegated Southampton for Mateus Fernandes. Ditto Nordi Mukiele and Jean-Clair Todibo, plus Anfield goalscorer Chemsdine Talbi and Crysencio Summerville.
This does not mean that West Ham have never found value in the overseas market. El Hadji Malick Diouf is a ‘diamond’ of a footballer who looks destined to earn the Hammers a massive windfall later down the line. A 20-year-old snapped up from Czech football, this was an addition straight out of the Bournemouth, Brighton, Brentford, or perhaps even Sunderland playbook.
Yet, a club who spent nearly £200 million combined on Kilman, Summerville, Fernandes, James Ward-Prowse, Mads Hermansen, Danny Ings and Maxwel Cornet – not to mention disastrous loan deals for Evan Ferguson and Kalvin Phillips – make a mockery of the argument that signing ‘proven’ Premier League players guarantees success.
It is not too late to take a leaf out of the book of the clubs whose ultra-modern scouting network has shaken-up the established top-flight order, though.
From now on, more Dioufs, more Alderertes, and less Kilmans please.
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