West Ham United joint-chairman David Gold has revealed the club are targeting new signings who can go straight into the starting XI as he highlighted the benefits of no Europa League football next season.
The Hammers finished 11th in the Premier League this season, 16 points off the final European spot.
It will be the first time since Slaven Bilic took charge of the club that West Ham won’t be competing in Europe.
The Hammers qualified for Europe at the end of the 2014-15 season despite finishing 12th in league as a result of topping the fair play table.
West Ham were dumped out of the competition in the qualifying round against Romanian side Astra Giurgui following a 4-3 aggregate defeat.
Bilic led the East London club to a seventh placed finish in his first season in charge but his side failed once again to qualify for the Europa League group stages as the same Romanian side knocked them out of the competition in the play-off round.
Gold outlined his assessment of West Ham’s season on the club’s official website and he revealed that no European football is going to benefit the club in the summer transfer window.
He stated: “Of course, we would love to be competing in Europe next season, but after two years of returning early from the summer break to play competitive Europa League football in July, this year we have a full rest period and a regular schedule before the Premier League campaign begins.
“And we must take advantage of that.
“It will give us an opportunity to ensure that the injured players have the time and patience they need to recover fully in time for pre-season, and also to bring in some new faces who can strengthen not just the squad, but the actual first choice starting XI.”
Unlike last year with the European Championships in France, there are no major international competitions taking place this summer which should give the West Ham hierarchy more time to assess the right type of player that needs to join the club.