West Ham United boss David Moyes told reporters yesterday that he’s not expecting to have a lot of money to spend this summer but insisted that he is certainly hoping to strengthen his squad, as quoted by Football.London.
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The Hammers boss already has a threadbare squad at his disposal and that’s putting it lightly.
We have one recognised centre-forward in the form of Michail Antonio and he is actually a winger!
Moyes has just three central midfielders to choose from aside from young talent Conor Coventry. One of those is just not at Premier League level anymore – Mark Noble.
West Ham need another right-back to push Vladimir Coufal, another left wing-back to challenge Arthur Masuaku and another top class goalkeeper.
It could be argued that we need another central defender as well, certainly if Fabian Balbuena leaves.
If the Hammers qualify for Europe, it will be pivotal for the board to back Moyes in the transfer market.
David Moyes provides West Ham transfer update
The Scot spoke to reporters, however, and dampened expectations regarding potential incomings at the London Stadium this summer, as quoted by Football.London:
“I’m not probably expecting there to be an awful lot of money around. I think there’ll be a bit but I wouldn’t say there’ll be loads. The truth is, yes I’m planning for next season. I’m focusing on trying to prepare for pre-season and getting things in order as much as we can. We would like to add to the squad. We are looking at what we have to identify and what we can get in. I hope it gives us the same level of talent that we’ve been able to bring in previously.”
Moyes then discussed the chances of adding squad players rather than first-team regulars:
“It could alter depending on European football. Maybe we’ll need a bigger squad but we’re at the stage where we’re trying to develop the players and add players who can go directly into the first team and can improve on what we’ve got. I’m not really that interested in signing squad players. Maybe that could change at the end of the season but it’s not really in my plans at the moment.”
Moyes has always been fairly frugal with money.
He has made some great signings for West Ham including the likes of Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal and Jarrod Bowen.
If he can bring in three players of similar quality to those three mentioned above in the summer we will be just fine next season.
If the Hammers qualify for Europe, however, it could be argued that Moyes will need to sign 5 to 6 players.
And whether the West Ham board will be prepared to back the Scot to that extent remains to be seen.
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