Hammers boss David Moyes has made his feelings perfectly clear to the West Ham owners over summer transfer demands.
Hopes were high that West Ham would seize the golden opportunity in front of them during the second half of the season by bringing in quality players in key positions during the January window.
Following the arrival of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky as the club’s second biggest stakeholder in November and Rob Newman from Man City as head of recruitment before that, there was a real buzz around the club going into the window.
West Ham fans were angry when the window closed without a single new arrival.
And the disappointment is amplified as supporters watch Moyes’s shallow squad struggle to cope with the demands placed on them during the run in – the tired 3-1 defeat to bitter rivals Spurs last time out being the latest example.
Moyes insists he tried to sign players and says he had the backing of the board to do so.
But the simple fact is West Ham failed to get the players the manager wanted signed.
This summer West Ham face a real crossroads. The Hammers have the second oldest squad in the Premier League and a host of players out of contract, retiring or set to leave as they are not part of Moyes’s plans.
With several players already needed in key areas such as up front, central defence and at left-back – it means West Ham will require as many as 10-12 players in a big rebuild.
David Moyes makes feelings perfectly clear to West Ham owners over summer transfer demands
And now in an interview with Alan Shearer for The Athletic, Moyes makes his feelings perfectly clear to the West Ham owners over his summer transfer demands.
The Scot says West Ham have to show they can go out and get the right players, not only to progress, but just to remain where they are in and around the European mix in the fiercely competitive Premier League.
“I need to keep adding good players, which is part of the club’s responsibility to keep with it…” Moyes told Shearer for The Athletic.
“We’ve got to be careful and not think, ‘This is it. We’ve gone straight up and that’s where we’re staying’. It’s going to take a lot of work even to stay where we are because the quality in the Premier League at the moment is through the roof…
“I use this continuously where I talk about the ‘new’ West Ham.
“I want the West Ham support to be as ferocious as ever and I want the crowds in the East End of London to come and watch us, but we also need to build a new club here for the future and a new club here for moving forward, a club which can challenge at the top of the league, a club which has got a great stadium, a club which is going to try to bring in young players and encourage young players to get into the first team.”
To get the kind of quality players Moyes wants you have to meet the valuation of the selling club.
Some of West Ham’s ridiculous January bids – one example being when the Hammers hierarchy offered a prestigious European club in the shape of Benfica £40m for their star striker who has a £100m release clause – proved they were either incapable or unwilling to do that.
And if that is the case again this summer, as Moyes rightly makes clear, West Ham will struggle to stay where they are let alone continue their upward trend.