West Ham United boss Julen Lopetegui is clearly trying to be thrifty in his player recruitment this summer.
Sure, Julen Lopetegui has already spent £65 million on bringing three new players to West Ham, but with so many more additions required, he’s hardly got lavish funds remaining.
The Hammers boss has a transfer budget of around £90 million this summer, although that figure is excluding any potential player sales.
With Said Benrahma and Thilo Kehrer already offloaded for around £20 million combined, Lopetegui should now have £45 million to play with.
Hopefully the Hammers will be able to raise further funds by selling the likes of Danny Ings, Nayef Aguerd and Maxwel Cornet this summer.
Still, the problem Lopetegui faces is that he has to make at least four or five more top quality signings, if we are to be competitive on all fronts next season.
With that in mind, it will be no surprise if he’s eyeing a free transfer or two this summer…
West Ham contact agents of free agent Kelechi Iheanacho
The Nigerian hitman is currently without a club, and he could well be London Stadium bound this summer.
According to Give Me Sport, West Ham have been looking into Iheanacho’s current situation, asking his agents what he’s looking for.
The experienced striker has just been released by Leicester, so is available on a free transfer this summer.
According to Capology, the 27-year-old was earning £80k-a-week at Leicester, and he’ll undoubtedly be looking for more than that from his next club, due to the fact that he won’t cost anything transfer fee wise.
Personally, I feel like Lopetegui should be aiming a lot higher than Iheanacho this summer.
However, I would understand if the Spaniard brings in Iheanacho because he’s available on a free transfer.
He’d do a solid job for the Hammers, but wouldn’t take us to another level in my opinion.
The 27-year-old is far from clinical, and has scored just 87 goals throughout his career to date. Only 42 of those have come in the Premier League.
He’s simply not suited to Lopetegui’s playing style either. The Nigerian certainly isn’t known for running the channels, and is more of a ‘fox in the box’ type striker.
Personally, I would love to see the Hammers sign a clinical striker this summer, but someone who possesses blistering pace and runs the channels as well.
Ideally I’d like to see Lopetegui bring in someone like Jonathan David, Simon Banza or Youssef En-Nesyri.
If none of those are available though, I guess Kelechi Iheanacho wouldn’t be a bad short-term option for West Ham.
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