With all of West Ham United’s focus firmly fixed on midfielders – Soungoutou Magassa and Mateus Fernandes are expected to join the Premier League stragglers – reinforcements in other areas have been placed on the back-burner.
Yet, if the opening weeks of the new campaign are anything to go by, strengthening the heart of Graham Potter’s team would hardly cure all of those Hammers ills.
A case of rebuilding the foundations of your house while the back door is still broken and the ceiling leaks.
A dejected Graham Potter laid the blame at West Ham’s defensive trio – Max Kilman, Nayef Aguerd and Jean-Clair Todibo – after Sunderland scored two unchallenged headers on matchday one. Jump forward another week-and-a-half, and the Londoners have now conceded a staggering eleven goals across three games.
At the other end, Niclas Fullkrug has failed to take his pre-season form into the competitive stuff, even if West Ham United legend Tony Cottee feels the big German can be excused due to a lack of quality service coming his way.
But, with Fernandes and Magassa set to take a £54 million chunk out of Potter’s budget, will there be any money left in the coffers to strengthen a shambling backline or an ageing attack?
Even if the answer proves to be ‘yes’, the Hammers fans can forget about Roberto Piccoli and Albian Hajdari this summer.
Albian Hajdari joins Hoffenheim after West Ham United agreement collapsed
As reported by Fussball Transfers, West Ham agreed terms with Albian Hajdari all the way back in July.
A silky, stylish Switzerland Under-21 international, the FC Lugano youngster would have likely replaced Nayef Aguerd if the Hammers had succeeded in getting the Moroccan off the books.
A lack of recent movement surrounding Aguerd, however, meant West Ham’s Hajdari deal soon stalled. Thus, leaving the door ajar for Hoffenheim to trigger the £4.3 million release clause in his contract instead.
German publication BILD back up earlier claims, insisting that Hajdari did indeed ‘agree terms’ with the 2023 Conference League champions. Interestingly, they suggest that West Ham saw the 22-year-old as a replacement for Kilman, rather than his fellow left-footer Aguerd.
Now, with only four days in the window left, Potter looks like he will have no choice but to rely on the frequently unreliable until January at the earliest.
Swiss site Blue Win go as far as to say that Hadjari’s West Ham switch collapsed ‘at the last minute’. He crosses the border into Germany instead, looking to form a new-look Hoffenheim defence alongside a certain Vladimir Coufal.
Fiorentina sign Roberto Piccoli from Serie A rivals Cagliari
As for Roberto Piccoli, the former Cagliari targetman officially completed a £21 million move to Fiorentina in midweek.
Mid-summer reports from Tuttomercatoweb claimed that West Ham had overtaken Benfica in the race to sign a rangy, aerially-dominant number nine who scored ten Serie A goals last season.
Chief football correspondent Graeme Bailey would later inform Hammers News that a big-money centre-forward was always unlikely, though, while West Ham were prioritising not one but two midfield additions.
Fortunately, while Potter’s job security may rest on whether he can get Fullkrug or Callum Wilson scoring on a semi-regular basis, the embattled West Ham boss will not be able to blame his struggles on a lack of midfield reinforcement from here on in.
Southampton boss Will Still confirmed Mateus Fernandes’s impending £40 million departure on Thursday.
Monaco’s Soungoutou Magassa has undergone medical tests in London around 24 hours earlier.
