West Ham are looking at two areas for January transfers but things could get awkward as an insider makes purse strings claim.
After spending £170m on eight signings in the summer many might have expected January to be quiet at West Ham.
While it is a notoriously bad window in which to do business, the Hammers may now have little choice but to get involved.
West Ham are just two places and one point off the relegation zone as we enter the six week World Cup break.
Depending on how you see it, that means over a month festering on what has been a woeful Premier League season so far or a blessed break from the misery.
What it does do, though, is afford Moyes and his staff time to address the issues and come up with a plan to resolve them.
It is clear for anyone who has been watching the side this season that some of those problems cannot be fixed on the training pitch and will require a foray into the transfer market.
The winter window opens just five days after West Ham return to Premier League action on Boxing Day at Arsenal.
West Ham are looking at two areas for January transfers but things could get awkward as an insider makes purse strings claim.
According to a West Ham insiders Claret and Hugh, the Hammers are eyeing deals to sign a right-back and central defender in January.
But things could get awkward because there are reportedly question marks over whether Moyes will be trusted with worthwhile sums off the back of some questionable transfer decisions and outlays in recent windows.
It is easy to see why the right-back and central defensive areas are being targeted. Vladimir Coufal, Ben Johnson and Thilo Kehrer are simply not the answer there. West Ham need a young, pacy, modern right-back who can get forward and in behind teams to help make goals.
In central defence Craig Dawson wants to leave and has started to look out of sorts of late. Kurt Zouma will always be an injury worry with his knee issues and Angelo Ogbonna – as things stand – is out of contract in the summer.
“The biggest question of all is whether the board will trust Moyes with more cash, however little or much is available,” Claret and Hugh state in an article headlined Moyes may face window trust problem.
“We go straight into the window following the World Cup and the board will be looking at hard at how much is available and whether the manager has earned the right to spent it after the near £200 million splashed out given the current situation.”
West Ham tried and failed to sign players in both positions on deadline day in the summer so this tallies up. But another forward should also be on the list given West Ham’s goal woes and the fact Michail Antonio turns 33 this season.
Whether the right players will be available remains to be seen.
But if the board elect that they don’t trust Moyes to spend – which is somewhat understandable given the large sums spent on players such as Nikola Vlasic, Zouma, Lucas Paqueta, Gianluca Scamacca and Nayef Aguerd in recent windows – then where is the future in that?
Moyes has always insisted he has final say on signings. So if the owners are reluctant to back him to get the players he feels he needs then perhaps they should be asking themselves if he is the man they want at the helm long term?