West Ham and Chelsea were two of the busiest clubs around in the summer transfer market but Paul Merson has strong opinions on two of the signings.
London rivals West Ham and Chelsea shared plenty of column inches during the summer transfer window.
The Hammers were linked with a raft of Chelsea players but ended up looking elsewhere.
From Raheem Sterling to Armando Broja, Trevoh Chalobah, David Datro Fofana and Carney Chukwuemeka, there looked certain to be some business between West Ham and Chelsea.
Instead Julen Lopetegui and technical director Tim Steidten focused their big Hammers rebuild on other targets.
Chelsea and West Ham were also rivals in the window for several players.
Last summer the Hammers beat the Blues to Mohammed Kudus.
This time around both clubs were reported to be in the running to sign Jhon Duran, Crysencio Summerville and Samu Omorodion.
Merson: Chelsea dropped clanger letting West Ham sign new star
Duran looked on course to join West Ham but a deal could not be agreed.
Omorodion went to Porto but the Hammers did indeed get Summerville from Leeds ahead of Chelsea.
West Ham paid a bargain £26m for the Championship’s standout player.
Chelsea were also linked with striker Niclas Fullkrug as they cast their net across Europe for a new forward.
But the big German joined the Hammers in a £23.5m deal as one of nine new signings.
One pundit thinks the east Londoners got one over on their rivals with that deal.
Paul Merson says Chelsea dropped a clanger letting West Ham sign new star Fullkrug but were right to avoid his Hammers teammate.
But Blues right right to avoid Hammers teammate says pundit
Merson believes Chelsea made a mistake not pushing to beat West Ham to Fullkrug.
He has backed him to do well at West Ham and says the Hammers have bought well in the window.
But Merson is far from convinced about another star West Ham beat Chelsea to, Summerville.
“West Ham have bought well this season,” Merson told Sportskeeda.
“I feel Niclas Fullkrug can have an impact… I’m a big fan of his and he scored for Germany during the international break.
“I thought Chelsea should’ve looked to sign him. It was a bit of a surprise to me when they did not make a move. The Blues don’t have a proper striker at the moment.
“West Ham’s other new signing Crysencio Summerville might find it hard to impress, though.
“Every full-back in the Premier League is a full international, so it’s not like the Championship where he dominated.”
West Ham need both to shine
West Ham will be hoping Merson is right about Fullkrug.
Some have raised doubts about the signing of the 31-year-old due to his lack of a key commodity in the Premier League – pace.
Fullkrug is the 53rd striker West Ham have signed since 2010. So they need this one to come off.
As for Summerville, Merson may have got that one wrong. The Dutchman has already looked sharp for the Hammers and there are calls for him to start at Fulham.
Signing for Chelsea would have been a mistake for Summerville given their bloated squad.
He’s at the right club but will want to be playing after being one of the first names on the teamsheet at Leeds.
Summerville was also very effective for Leeds in the Premier League before they were relegated.
So he’s not new to the top flight as Merson seems to suggest.
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