The last time West Ham United were relegated out of the Premier League, Sam Allardyce responded by putting his top-flight contacts to good use.
Allardyce brought in no fewer than nine players from Premier League clubs. Eight of those had racked up more than 1,300 appearances in the first division of English football.
Of course, not all of these additions worked out. David Bentley couldn’t stay fit, John Carew scored only twice, while the dearly departed Papa Bouba Diop would not rediscover the form of his Fulham days.
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Yet, George McCartney, Joey O’Brien, Matt Taylor, Abdoulaye Faye and particularly Kevin Nolan would become the rock-solid, highly-experienced spine around which a promotion-winning West Ham United side was built.
Fifteen years later, as Nuno Espirito Santo looks to add another Championship title to his CV while emulating Allardyce’s success in East London, links with Joe Willock, Wilson Isidor, Reiss Nelson and Dwight McNeil feel, well, a little familiar.
West Ham United reportedly keen on Everton’s Dwight McNeil
According to The Sun, Sunderland hitman Isidor is a target. He scored nine times in 26 Championship games in 2024/25.
Newcastle midfielder Joe Willock has been mentioned, while club insider ExWhuEmployee reports that there is admiration for Arsenal’s forgotten man Reiss Nelson and Everton winger Dwight McNeil.
With the exception of Isidor, these are not exactly links that get the blood pumping. The Hammers fans want young, improving players, with Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney and Championship Golden Boot winner Zan Vipotnik among the more pleasing targets.
But in a squad that so frequently accused of lacking leadership and resilience, players like McNeil in particular could be just as valuable off the pitch as they are on it.
Allardyce famously described Kevin Nolan as ‘the most important signing I ever made’. In addition to scoring 17 Championship goals, a 28-year-old signed from Bolton Wanderers would become the driving force in West Ham’s midfield.
No one can say with any certainty that McNeil would become a similarly talismanic figure at the London Stadium.
Though as West Ham run the rule over ‘proven’ second-tier talent like Sydie Peck, Harrison Burrows and Ethan Galbraith, plus exciting foreign prospects such as Alpha Toure and Pape Moussa Fall, convincing Everton’s number seven to drop down a division at the age of 26 would not only be a sign of ambition, but also a move reminiscent of Allardyce’s first summer in the Upton Park dugout.
McNeil, Nelson, Willock, Isidor… Who would YOU pick? 🧐
West Ham have been linked with a quartet of Premier League men
Kevin Nolan was a revelation under Sam Allardyce at Upton Park
“I always said that Kevin Nolan was the most important signing I ever made,” Allardyce said years ago. “It wasn’t just about what he does as a football player on the field, it’s what he does as a captain. He unites dressing rooms by his experience and the fact that he is a leader of players.
“He could lead that dressing room and he could pull them all together. He started that from the day he came in and that has grown as we have come on.”
Back in 2024, then-Everton captain Seamus Coleman described McNeil as a ‘leader in the pack’ at Goodison Park.
David Moyes, the former West Ham boss currently in the midst of a second spell with The Toffees, had nothing but praise for McNeil’s personality after he walked off to a ‘standing ovation’ in March’s 2-0 victory over Burnley.
The Rochdale-born ex-Man United prospect is a fine set-piece taker, a solid technician, a scorer of excellent goals and versatile enough to play in a variety of positions in the middle and out wide. Quality and character in equal measure.
Two attributes West Ham spent much of last season crying out for.
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