‘Alarm bells’ at West Ham United after what Jim White said live on talkSPORT
Martin Keown has claimed that “alarm bells” are ringing at West Ham United following their inactivity in the transfer window and their poor pre-season results.
Speaking live on talkSPORT, the Arsenal legend alluded to tensions between David Moyes and new director of football Tim Steidten, while noting Moyes’ notorious habit of taking a long time to decide on transfers.
Keown also suggested that the Irons’ poor pre-season, including a 4-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in their final outing before the new season, gives West Ham fans plenty of reasons to be worried.
talkSPORT presenter Jim White questioned Keown about West Ham’s situation, asking: “It’s hardly surprising Martin that there are West Ham fans out there getting restless about it all. It seems a long time ago now that the Declan Rice deal was done, he played for Arsenal yesterday.
“It’s all come and gone, Sullivan’s got £100million burning a hole in his pocket. He’s got to spend it some time, so how about now?”
Keown responded: “I suppose it’s about that relationship. The new director of football coming in and David Moyes, as we know, notoriously takes his time when he signs a player. Over the years he’s looked at players for a long time. But he wants proven players that can play in the Premier League.
“I get that. But that 4-0 defeat yesterday, alarm bells start ringing, don’t they? They knew they were nervous anyway, they’ve lost the last two pre-season friendlies. Declan Rice is a massive blow for them coming out of that team. So they need to address that.
“You always need new players coming in. They had two really good seasons, last year they won that trophy in Europe but the league form wasn’t fantastic.
“David Moyes needs to perform and get the results.”
Spot on
Keown’s suggestions here ring true. Despite the glorious end to their campaign last season following their European success, the club have only regressed since.
Losing Rice felt inevitable, with the Daily Mail reporting that the Hammers would have known since January that the Englishman was going to leave, so the lack of preparation should be a concern.
With no new senior additions at all at the London Stadium and having lost their best player, the club have not done much to help improve on their 14th-place finish last season which saw them just six points away from the drop.
White’s suggestion that David Sullivan needs to start spending money is true, but with Sky Sports reporting (2 August) that West Ham could be considering other midfield options after Southampton rejected their £30million bid, you couldn’t blame fans for not being optimistic.
However, with Fabrizio Romano reporting on Monday (7 August) that Ajax midfielder Edson Alvarez is set to complete his move to London, there is finally movement in their window and Rice is starting to be replaced.
But more must be done. West Ham are typically a hard team to predict, but in their current state many could tip them for another tough season.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers want to launch a fresh bid for a Championship midfielder.