Kaveh Solhekol has explained the real reason for the quiet transfer window as West Ham face a race against time.
The clock is very much ticking down ahead of the January transfer window deadline day and West Ham are trying to get deals done.
The Hammers have signed Kalvin Phillips on loan this weekend.
But West Ham ideally need a versatile defender and an attacking player – if not two.
Technical director Tim Steidten is heading up recruitment while majority owner David Sullivan plays a big role too.
David Moyes of course has his input. But deadline day once again co-incides with West Ham playing in the Premier League – against Bournemouth at home – on the same evening.
Solhekol explains real reason for quiet window
That means the manager will be very much focused on the match, leaving key figures above him to try and get deals over the line before the clock strikes 11pm.
So it puts huge pressure on the next three days for West Ham to get signings in. The Hammers are being linked with a plethora of targets but most deals – like with Phillips – are being reported as initial loans.
And that’s not just at West Ham but across Europe in this window.
It has left some fans scratching their heads with not even Chelsea spending vast sums for a change.
Now Sky Sports’ senior reporter has spoken out.
Kaveh Solhekol explains the real reason for quiet window as West Ham face a race against time.
Just £34.6m has been spent so far this window compared to the whopping £780m last January.
Clock is ticking
And Solhekol says West Ham and their Prem rivals are all treading carefully with finances while AFCON, The Asia Cup and more organised recruitment teams are playing a big part in the lack of business being done thus far.
West Ham fans should not completely lose hope, though, because Solhekol does believe there will be a spike in activity across the top flight before the deadline.
“The real reason is the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules,” Solhekol said on Sky Sports.
“They have been around for a long time but in the past couple of months, we’ve seen the league being very serious about applying those rules.
“For instance, Everton were deducted 10 points for breaching the rules, while they and Nottingham Forest have been charged. So that has focused minds at a lot of clubs as the last thing they want to do is break those rules and potentially be deducted points. That is the main reason – people are being very careful.
“There are other reasons: the Africa Cup of Nations and the Asia Cup are on at the moment. But let’s not forget the January transfer window is normally pretty quiet every year, a lot of the big business is usually done in the summer…
West Ham face a race against time
“This year, a lot of the deals that have been done are either loan deals or deals on young players for the future. It’s also part of a trend that I’m seeing where the days of wheeling and dealing in the transfer market seem to be disappearing fast.
“I do expect it to be a little bit more busy in the next few days. But nothing like what we saw 12 months ago.
“Most clubs have very professional recruitment departments, they use a lot of data. Everything they do in the window is planned well in advance.
“So there’s not so much panic buying or selling that we saw in the good old days, or the bad old days, depending on what you think about the transfer market.
“As one European agent says: “No one wants to sell their best players in January. Only an idiot would sell their best players. Only from South America [could you see players move] as their season finished in December.”
Solhekol’s explanation tallies with what the top source inside West Ham exclusively told fans on Hammers News back in November.
The Hammers now have around 100 hours – at the time of writing – to get players in the door.
The race is on.
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