Stuart Pearce believes West Ham ‘can’t afford’ to only try and replace Declan Rice this summer
West Ham cannot afford to spend their entire transfer budget attempting to find a like-for-like replacement for Declan Rice this summer, according to Stuart Pearce on Talk Sport.
The former England international opened up about the difficulties facing David Moyes’ side this summer as they attempt to reinvest the £105m earned in the sale of Rice to Arsenal earlier in the window with little success so far.
So far in the transfer window Moyes’ side has enquired about at least 10 midfielders, including Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher, Manchester United’s Scott McTominay and Fulham star Joao Palhinha but to no avail.
But Pearce explained that the task facing the Irons is far from simple, saying: “I think a couple of things have played into this: you can’t spend money that you’ve not got, and you can only buy players when other teams say, ‘yes we’re available and we agree a fee.’
“Everyone thinks you’re going to pay top dollar; they will want value for money, I’m sure the chairman will want value for money as well. Good players are not readily released by their football clubs.
“I don’t think you can afford to say, Declan’s left, let’s go and buy a player that will fit straight into that role, even if it costs us the same type of money. I think it has to be spread across the team. If you’ve only got a certain budget, you cannot put all that money into one position.”
Someone needs to come in
While the sentiment of what Pearce has said is completely fair and true, West Ham need somebody through the door of the London Stadium and they need it sooner rather than later.
The Premier League season isn’t far away and at the moment a rather large Rice-shaped hole sits in the middle of the park and doesn’t appear to be any closer to being filled, with few enquiries turning into anything more than rejected bids.
While nobody involved whether it be the chairman or manager will want to overpay for anyone, they do purchase in this transfer window, it may well be that it is unavoidable for this season at least.
Everyone who receives a bid from West Ham, know that they have just pocketed over £100m mere weeks ago for an academy product, and they are going to certainly want a slice of that fee, as demonstrated by Chelsea’s £50m valuation of Gallagher this week.
If those in charge in East London want to stick to their guns and only pay what they believe their targets are worth, they will earn the admiration of a number of football fans but could well find themselves in trouble when the season begins, and they have a missing space where their best player used to feature.
In other West Ham news, the Irons have made enquiries for close to 10 midfielders as they continue to kickstart their summer window