August last year was when the floodgates opened for West Ham’s spending, bringing in six players for more than £70million.
This year, it seems they need another deluge, with their only arrivals being El Hadji Malick Diouf for £19m, two Bosman transfers – Kyle Walker-Peters and Daniel Cummings – and £33m Jean-Clair Todibo, who in a way was already at the club.
So with August on the horizon again, and the squad needing a refresh now that Mohammed Kudus has joined Tottenham, what will West Ham do?
Here, our expert JAMES SHARPE answers the key questions on all things transfers.
Senegal left back El Hadji Malick Diouf has joined for £19million from Slavia Prague
Kyle Walker-Peters has joined on a free transfer after leaving relegated Southampton
Callum Wilson… really?
I remember when West Ham lost at home to Newcastle back in March. A few in the press box joked about Callum Wilson and what a ‘West Ham signing’ it would be to see him in claret and blue next season. Out of contract, in his 30s, injury prone. ‘He’ll definitely end up here in the summer,’ said one clearly prescient hack.
Because that’s exactly what could now happen. West Ham are deep in talks with free agent Wilson over a potential move to the London Stadium having just released Danny Ings, another injury-prone striker in his 30s on massive wages.
That’s the one area where this Wilson deal will differ. The talks surround a fairly low basic salary with most the money linked to games and goals with the final discussions around length of contract.
Wilson has long been admired by bosses at West Ham – not the first striker to catch the eye since the current owners took charge – and the feeling is that this is a low-risk move for a striker with a proven Premier League record.
That record stands at 88 Premier League goals in 239 games. West Ham’s leading scorer in the competition is Michail Antonio, also released this summer after refusing to sign the club’s contract offer (yet), with 68 goals in 268 games.
Wilson, though, has not found the net in the league since May last year, going 19 top-flight appearances without a goal.
Callum Wilson has been tipped as a ‘typical West Ham signing’ due to his age and injury record – but there is logic to it
This can’t be a Graham Potter signing, can it?
Unless something’s gone awry with the algorithms on head of recruitment Kyle Macauley’s talent identification system, it’s unlikely that his analysts punched their desired numbers into the machine and it coughed up Callum Wilson’s name.
This is the same Graham Potter, after all, who has made no secret of his desire to lower the average age of one of the oldest squads in the Premier League and the same Graham Potter who has long talked about the importance of signing players with resale value. Wilson does not fit either of these criteria.
When I asked the Hammers boss how important that was in April, he reeled off the list of big sales during his time at Brighton: ‘A winning team with value on the pitch. If we can create that then I’m happy. In three years’ time, if we can do that together then that’s fantastic.
‘An equivalent of Moises Caicedo, an equivalent of Alexis Mac Allister, an equivalent of Leandro Trossard, an equivalent of Robert Sanchez, an equivalent of Lewis Dunk, an equivalent of Pascal Gross at West Ham, that’s £200m of sales. Yves Bissouma, Ben White, Marco Cucurella, Pervis Estupinian, those players.
‘If you can win and sell players then you should be happy with that performance, no?’
The only first-team striker at Potter’s disposal is Niclas Fullkrug – you guessed it, an injury-prone front man in his 30s – and the Hammers boss is understood to see the German, who has come back leaner for pre-season, as more of an impact sub than someone who he can build his attack around.
And now he could get another one. Yet while it’s clear that Wilson is not a Potter and Macauley target, there’s also a feeling that because the basic salary will be on the smaller side, it’s a fairly low-risk signing and perhaps not one to get into a fight with your bosses about at this stage.
Could Mohammed Kudus be West Ham’s version of Moises Caicedo, who Brighton sold for £115m?
Will this be the only striker?
You never can be sure when it comes to West Ham, its owner David Sullivan, and available strikers. The club have signed more than 40 of them in the 15 years since the takeover in January 2010 and Potter has spent most of his time in charge playing Jarrod Bowen, Kudus or Lucas Paqueta up front.
For a club that spent the summer insisting they had to sell before they could buy, and with other areas in which they need to strengthen, it’s unlikely West Ham are going to go big on a striker. They need to make the money count across the board. If one is to come in, it is likely to be a younger player with scope to develop.
They may well have one of those already at hand. Callum Marshall scored 10 goals while on loan for League One side Huddersfield, was named their player of the season, and showed flashes of what he might bring to the Hammers front line if given the chance during their pre-season friendly against Grasshoppers Zurich.
The 20-year-old’s superb run in behind, driving carry and left-footed finish doubled the lead before some lovely link-up play with Paqueta in the build-up to their third.
Callum Marshall (left) is highly rated at West Ham and already has eight senior caps for Northern Ireland
What’s the latest on the pursuit of Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott?
Potter spent a lot of the last few matches of the season complaining that his West Ham side were incapable of dictating games with attacking play. That tends to happen with you have no pace up front and, having sold Declan Rice for £105m, now have an array of midfielders who can’t run.
Harvey Elliott would help fix that. The Liverpool playmaker showed his quality for England at the Under 21 Euros and has the ability to dominate matches for West Ham.
The club are keen and remain in talks with Liverpool but, currently, the asking price of around £50m is way too high. The possibility of a loan with a later option to buy is being discussed.
West Ham would like to make, what you might call, a ‘double swoop’ for Elliott and all-action midfielder Liverpool team-mate Tyler Morton but again finances make that tough.
‘We’d love them but sadly a long way off,’ a senior Hammers source told Mail Sport.
Elliott knows he may have to leave Liverpool to earn a spot at the World Cup next year. ‘Look, if I had it my way, I’d be here for the rest of my career, it’s as simple as that, I love everything about the club,’ he told The Anfield Wrap while on the club’s pre-season tour.
‘But at the same time I kind of need to be selfish with myself and see what’s best for me. ‘I have big ambitions. I want to go to the World Cup. I want to keep being successful as a player.
‘I think it’s still something I need to review. I need to have a talk with everyone, really and review the situation.’
West Ham are very keen on Harvey Elliott (right) and Tyler Morton (left), but Liverpool’s asking price is currently far too high for them
What about a goalkeeper? Is Alphonse Areola enough?
West Ham have already made additions to their defensive line with the arrivals of Walker-Peters and Senegal full back Diouf, the focus will now be on strengthening the goalkeeping and midfield areas.
Diouf’s signing is a good insight into the kind of players Potter and Macauley are keen to buy – younger talents with room to develop.
Potter and Macauley are keen to add a new keeper following the departure of Lukasz Fabianski and concerns over whether Alphonse Areola is good enough to be first choice.
Leicester keeper Mads Hermansen is West Ham’s top target, having worked with new goalkeeping coach Casper Ankergren at Brondby. West Ham even mentioned it in Ankergren’s appointment statement on their website.
Hermansen underwent surgery four games before the end of the season, which led to assumptions it was done so as not to clash with the transfer window. The Foxes are braced for an approach.
Japan’s Zion Suzuki, also courted by Manchester United, is also of interest.
Mads Hermansen is West Ham’s top target in the goalkeeper position
Zion Suzuki is another on West Ham’s list – though he also has interest from Man United
We NEED some midfielders. Who can bring some legs into the engine room?
This is the key area for West Ham. So much of their troubles last season came from not having midfielders who could dominate a game, not just in attack but also in seeing out those games where the Hammers conceded late goals to cost them points.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall remains on West Ham’s radar after falling down the pecking order at Chelsea but showed during his promotion campaign with Leicester that he brings energy and legs in both halves.
There was talk that Dewsbury-Hall was a potential makeweight in Chelsea’s interest in Kudus earlier in the window but senior Hammers sources told Mail Sport that the club had little interest in the castoffs Chelsea were trying to push on them.
His former team-mate Wilfred Ndidi is also an option for West Ham, though Foxes sources insist no club has yet been given permission to approach the Nigeria international, who began his career as a defensive ball-winner but adapted under Enzo Maresca into a player who could also drive late into the box.
Speaking of relegated sides, the Hammers have interest in a pair of Saints midfielders – Shea Charles, who impressed on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, and Matheus Fernandes.
Fernandes, especially, would fit the mould of what Potter and Macauley are looking for. He’s 21 with room to develop but also showed he could compete at Premier League level. I was at a couple of Southampton games last season where the Saints fans frequently sang his name and showed their frustration if he was ever subbed.
West Ham would also be able to get him at a lower fee with Saints now needing to cut costs in the Championship.
Wilfred Ndidi is also on West Ham’s radar this summer to bolster their midfield ranks
Anyone who might leave?
The Hammers remain a little hamstrung in their finances, boosted of course by the sale of Kudus but if Potter is to complete his desired overhaul it would help if more were moved on.
However, the club are yet to receive much concrete interest, certainly not at levels acceptable to West Ham, in those players like Edson Alvarez, Emerson and Guido Rodriguez.
The club have also been waiting for the now-imminent decision on Lucas Paqueta’s spot-fixing case. Hammers chiefs have been frustrated by how long it has taken as they have delayed certain moves until it comes through.
If he is found guilty, Paqueta, who scored from the penalty spot against Grasshoppers, faces a lifetime ban but a not guilty verdict could open up a potential sale, with a return to home club Flamengo a possibility.