West Ham United will find themselves seriously restricted in the transfer market this summer.
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According to West Ham insiders Claret & Hugh David Moyes has a zero transfer budget this summer.
The Scot must sell to buy.
And offloading highly paid, underperforming players is easier said than done.
Hugill sale to make it £10m raised so far by Moyes?
Striker Jordan Hugill is said to be in talks with Norwich over a £5million move.
Should they go through then West Ham will have raised £10m so far following the sale of Albian Ajeti to Celtic for the same fee.
Half of that £10m is expected to go straight to Eintracht Frankfurt to pay a missing installment of the Sebastien Haller fee.
As a result of the lack of funds Moyes is – according to Claret & Hugh – scouring the free agent and loan market.
Given the current climate there will be more competition than ever before for free agents. Especially the quality ones.
Defenders Shane Duffy and John Stones have both been linked with loan moves to West Ham.
West Ham looking to loans and free transfers but will be seriously restricted
But Moyes will also be very restricted on the loan front due to Premier League rules.
Loans between Premier League clubs are officially called temporary transfers.
Under the rules in the Premier League Handbook there are restrictions on how many players Premier League clubs can loan from other Premier League/English clubs.
West Ham would not be able to register more than two players on loan at any one time.
The maximum number of loans in a season is four. And under no circumstances can the Hammers loan more than one from the same club at any one time.
Any player signed by a Premier League club this summer – perhaps with a view to being one for the future – is also not permitted to be loaned out to another Premier League club in this window.
West Ham’s owners often prefer to use loan deals with the option to buy. Tomas Soucek being the most recent example.
Owners can’t rely on luxury of loan with option
But with only two loans permitted at any one time they may not be able to afford such luxuries.
West Ham fans are frustrated by the apparent stance of the owners.
The club’s loyal support had started to buy into Moyes’s interesting plan to follow the Red Bull blueprint.
Signing young, energetic players hungry to prove themselves in the top flight – much like what he did at Everton in many respects.
But even that looks well beyond West Ham’s reach as David Sullivan and David Gold plead poverty due to the global health crisis.
Eberechi Eze is said to be Moyes’s prime target this summer (Evening Standard).
But QPR will want money now so would be highly unlikely to accept a loan deal with an option.
The same will be true of any Championship clubs with players on West Ham’s radar.
There was some hope that the zero budget talk was a clever smokescreen from the club to get players below market value this summer.
That looks increasingly optimistic, though.
With the strict loan rules and increased competition for free agents, this will be a real test of Moyes’s creativity in the transfer market.
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