With the imminent signing of Mohammed Kudus from Ajax, West Ham have gone from having the worst window of the Premier League clubs to having one of the best – all within the space of three weeks.
David Moyes was hamstrung to an extent in terms of transfers, as nothing happened until Arsenal had fully completed the signing of Declan Rice.
Only then did chairman, David Sullivan, and sporting director, Tim Steidten, appear to get their act together and start bringing in new players.
Supporters can’t really have any complaints over the standard of new signings that the club have managed to get over the line to this point, though Moyes has warned Steidten regarding any others in the final week of the window.
“Unfortunately we’ve got a game on the Friday as well which is transfer deadline day which hasn’t helped us greatly,” he said to Sky Sports in his pre-match press conference (h/t Hammers News).
“But hopefully we’ve got our work all done (before then). We’ve got a new German technical director who’ll probably not be used to the way we do our business here in the UK where it’s last minute and signings getting done at 11 o’clock at night etc etc.
“But that’s the way it happens sometimes here. We’ve had real reasons (why we have had a slower window), the longer season with the final, pre-season in Australia etc. It’s sort of knocked everything we wanted to do back a little bit.
“Ideally we’d have had it done a little bit earlier but nevertheless we have to go and try and get one or two more players in before it closes.”
Given how experienced Steidten is it’s a bit of an odd comment from Moyes, who has perhaps inadvertently put more pressure on the German to get those potential transfers over the line quickly.
If the Hammers are able to secure the likes of Youssef En-Nesyri to shore up their front line, and injuries notwithstanding, they could be one of the teams to beat in the 2023/24 campaign.
Moyes then won’t have any reason to complain either, and the pressure will then be back on his shoulders to produce results.