The Athletic reporter Roshane Thomas has been discussing West Ham United’s lack of activity in the recent transfer window.
During the latest international transfer window, the Hammers only sealed the permanent arrival of two players (per Transfermarkt).
The first was signing Tomas Soucek on a permanent transfer following his loan stint with the club and the second was Vladimir Coufal, with both players arriving from Slavia Prague.
However, the Irons do still have time to sign new recruits as Premier League sides can trade with clubs in the EFL until 5pm on 16th October (per Sky Sports).
In the latest episode of the We Are West Ham podcast, though, Thomas made an appearance and claimed that the lack of transfer activity could lead to some friction.
He said: “In that interview with [David] Sullivan and TalkSPORT, he said that he’s been trying to get squad players and [David] Moyes was like, ‘I don’t want squad players, I want players who are going to have an impact straight away.’
“Moyes has been so consistent with that since he returned as manager; he’s not bringing in players who are going to occupy the bench, we’ve had so many players who’ve done that over the years for West Ham.
“I feel like that’s one of the reasons why it was hard for West Ham to bring players in, in the end.
“Yeah, I do think it will have an impact on their relationship, because Sullivan can be looking at it like, ‘Hey, I told you so, we could have brought in a squad player that could have made life a whole lot easier for us.’
“Now it’s a case of West Ham are an injury or two away from not being able to compete higher up the league, unfortunately.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what Thomas had to say, he seems to believe that West Ham’s lack of movement in the transfer market may have been down to Moyes not settling for squad players.
The journalist also seems to believe that there is a potential that it may lead to some friction if the Hammers struggle with injuries.
Was David Moyes right to insist on only signing first-team starters rather than squad players?
No, we needed players in
Yes, we needed quality in
However, as stated, the Irons do still have around a week left to sign players from EFL clubs in the domestic transfer window.
So, it will be interesting to see if the London Stadium outfit does end up bringing in any players before then and whether they are squad players or first-team starters.