The first West Ham United signing of the Julen Lopetegui era has been confirmed, with Fabricio Bruno heading to the London Stadium.
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that West Ham have agreed an £11.5 million deal to sign the 28-year-old defender from Flamengo.
West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui seems to be intent on getting some signings over the line before the transfer window has even officially opened.
It is believed that Bruno was really excited at the prospect of playing in the Premier League West Ham.
And that in itself goes to show how much of a draw we are, in spite of the fact that we won’t be competing in Europe next season.
How refreshing is it to see the club get some transfer business done early, after David Moyes dithered and dallied over potential transfers every single window over the past four years.
Lopetegui needs to bring at least six or seven new signings to the London Stadium this summer. The squad left being by Moyes is an incredibly unbalanced and ageing one.
Whilst Bruno, 28, is far from young, he still could be a pivotal signing for us. The Brazilian is a proper centre-back, and one thing we’re definitely missing right now is an old school, no-nonsense defender.
However, the signing of the Flamengo ace shines the light brightly on one huge issue we had as a football club and more specifically, the man who was causing the problem in the first place…
First Julen Lopetegui signing confirmed and it highlights big issue
West Ham fans are not used to the club getting their transfer business done quickly.
How many transfer windows in the past have we had to witness the Hammers transfer team furiously scrambling around on deadline day in order to try and get some last minute deals done.
That clearly won’t be the case anymore with Lopetegui at the helm.
During Moyes’s tenure at the London Stadium, he had so many chances to improve his squad, but refused to sign players who were offered to him by David Sullivan.
The 2021/22 summer transfer window and the 2024 January transfer window were two in particular where a couple of extra signings would have made the difference for us.
Moyes kept his powder dry, mostly because he’s incapable of being decisive, and West Ham suffered as a result.
At the time, some Hammers fans blamed Sullivan for not providing Moyes with the funds he needed, but with the Bruno signing almost done, it’s clear that the Scot was the problem, not the West Ham co-owner.
And now that Bruno has been confirmed as the first Julen Lopetegui signing at West Ham, there is genuine hope that we will start acting like a proper club in the transfer market.
I for one am incredibly excited about what the future holds for us. Moyes caused a big issue for the Hammers in the transfer market, and now I’m confident that our business will be conducted far more efficiently.
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