West Ham have made it perfectly clear they need to raise funds for summer signings through sales but have a strange strategy.
Tim Steidten, Julen Lopetegui and West Ham’s owners have taken a lot of flak over last summer’s transfer dealings.
Rightly so given how important that particular rebuild was for the Hammers.
Steidten and Lopetegui spent £155m on nine signings on the promise of revamping West Ham around young, exciting stars.
But somehow they made West Ham’s squad the oldest in the Premier League.
And it has showed on the pitch this season with Lopetegui and Steidten paying for their failings with their jobs.
Some of the new arrivals last summer have been disastrous such as Niclas Fullkrug.
Guido Rodriguez has been poor too but did at least he did not cost the club a transfer fee.
Luis Guilherme is another deal which saw Steidten seriously questioned. Although even he has showed signs of promise under Graham Potter.
Steidten was meant to completely overhaul the way West Ham did business.
He is gone, now, though as Potter is reunited with Kyle Macauley as the club’s new head of recruitment.
Sales crucial to West Ham’s summer transfer budget
It is easy to forget why West Ham hired Steidten in the first place.
Transfers were far too hit and miss before him.
Big money was wasted on the likes of Sebastien Haller, Gianluca Scamacca, Maxwel Cornet, Nikola Vlasic and a host of others.
It’s not just buying players that has been the problem at West Ham, though.
Selling players for decent fees has also been a major issue.
With the exception of Declan Rice, the Hammers have rarely got value for players they sell.
It is scandalous that Marko Arnautovic and Dimitri Payet were sold for a paltry £50m between them when each were probably worth that on their own – at the very least.
Now West Ham have put a flop in the shop window with an utterly baffling admission.
West Ham have revealed their summer budget and plans exclusively to Hammers News.
And it has been confirmed that the budget will be minimal this summer.
Players sales will be vital to raise funds for much-needed signings for Potter.
So every single penny West Ham can bring in is crucial.
But the Hammers have a very strange sales technique.
West Ham put flop in shop window with baffling admission
One of the forgotten flops of Rob Newman’s tenure at West Ham is Luizao.
West Ham said they were delighted to sign the ‘promising’ Brazilian defender back in January 2023.
It looked a real coup as West Ham snapped Luizao up from from Sao Paulo on a three-year deal.
The left-footed centre-back had made 20 first-team appearances in Brazil and helped Sao Paulo reach the final of the Copa Sudamericana and Copa Do Brasil semi-finals.
Aged 20 at the time, the 6ft 2in star was placed with West Ham’s Academy to allow him time to adapt with a view to progressing to the first team.
Luizao himself felt he was ready to step up for the Hammers but management since haven’t agreed.
He has remained with the development squad until this week, when West Ham announced the now 22-year-old has joined Polish side Pogoń Szczecin on loan for the rest of the season.
Luizao will have another year on his West Ham deal remaining in the summer.
According to club insider Sean Whetstone, the idea of the loan is to put the Brazilian in the shop window.
But the Hammers need to work on the sales technique.
Whetstone counts majority owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady among his top club contacts.
Hammers need to work on their sales technique
And his club source has publicly stated Luizao simply isn’t good enough.
“It’s a straight loan, sadly only paying a fraction of his wages,” the West Ham source told Whetstone.
“But it’s a player who is probably not good enough for us that we need in the shop window.
“We’ll try and move him permanently in the summer.”
You can just imagine clubs rushing to form an orderly queue off the back of that ringing endorsement.
Of course just because Luizao isn’t deemed good enough for the Hammers, doesn’t mean lesser club won’t be in for him.
But surely the idea is to talk up players you plan to sell rather than admit they’re not good enough – even if the honesty is refreshing.
West Ham need to brush up on their sales pitch if they want to do better when offloading higher profile players this summer.
Especially given how much Potter’s transfer budget depends on it.
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