West Ham United pair hailed as best business of transfer window by talkSPORT pundit
Four new signings have been made so far this summer by West Ham United but Ray Parlour doesn’t see any of them as their best business.
Nayef Aguerd got the ball rolling before Alphonse Areola and Flynn Downes quickly followed through the Rush Green door but there was quite the wait before Gianluca Scamacca came in to resolve the Irons’ striker problems.
The Italian international was in for high praise from Parlour on talkSPORT but he thinks keeping hold of two key players was much more important to David Moyes’ squad than any addition could be.
“The striker was a big signing and it sounds like he will fit into the Premier League,” Parlour said. “He’s six-foot-five, big build and he’ll hold the ball up.
“His record in front of goal is not too bad either and you’ve already got Antonio who needed a little bit of help because they didn’t really replace Haller.
“The most important thing for David Moyes was keeping Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen. They were superb last year so if they can carry on that form this year, which they will, they’ll be hoping for good things.”
Bang on
Parlour is absolutely right here, for once, because without those two genuine Premier League stars then this West Ham squad could be considered painfully average in places.
There are players of quality elsewhere but they would not play anywhere near as well as they have if Rice and Bowen weren’t making things tick for the Hammers.
If either were to have left the club this summer, West Ham would find it almost impossible to replace them no matter what price they would have been willing to pay for any given player.
They are talents so unique that no one could really do what they do in this specific team as well as they can and that is why Moyes will have fought so hard to keep them at the London Stadium.
Now they are set to remain for the duration of the season, there is a real chance for West Ham to not only challenge the top-four but go on and beat them in what could be the club’s most successful season in decades.