West Ham are getting their act together in terms of transfers this summer, though it’s doubtful they’d have wanted one of their London rivals, in this case Arsenal, to have benefitted financially because of one of their decisions.
The Gunners have already enjoyed a brilliant window of their own, bringing in the likes of Kai Havertz, Jurrien Timber, David Raya and West Ham’s former captain, Declan Rice.
Indeed, it was the sale of Rice that ultimately authored why the east Londoners took so long to get moving in the marketplace.
One must assume that it was David Sullivan’s decision not to allow funds to be released for players until the sale of Rice fully went through, though all that succeeded in doing is putting David Moyes on the back foot in terms of the players that he could bring in.
Be that because some were no longer available or others were then considered too expensive once clubs realised West Ham had a £100m+ kitty waiting to be spent.
It also shouldn’t escape supporters of the club that Moyes wasn’t handed any extra money by the board, meaning that, once again, the manager is only spending what the club have earned from sales.
With two billionaire owners in situ, in Sullivan and Daniel Kretinsky, that hardly speaks of a progressive football club does it.
In any event, the signing of Konstantinos Mavropanos has not only strengthened West Ham’s defence, but it has also bumped up Arsenal’s coffers.
That’s because the Gunners had a sell-on clause in the deal to take the player from the Emirates Stadium to Stuttgart according to the Daily Mirror, and that smart piece of business will see them pocket £1.7m from the £17m purchase price West Ham are paying the German club.
That was gonna happen, given that Arsenal valued the player and wanted to keep him but he was desperate for playing time, so Arsenal had to let him go. Good job, Edu.