West Ham United transfer news: Behind the scenes disagreements with David Moyes sees January striker deal lost
West Ham missed out on the signing of now-Benfica striker Marcos Leonardo this month thanks to “disagreements” behind the scenes at the club, according to Graeme Bailey.
HITC reported via their website on 19 January that the 20-year-old forward moved to Portugal from Santos due to a lack of agreement over his signing at the London Stadium between key figures.
David Moyes is reported to have “rarely seen eye to eye with the club’s top brass” since technical director Tim Steidten arrived at the club in the summer, with this failed pursuit suggesting it is still causing friction.
West Ham are in major need of help in attacking positions thanks to injuries and international duty but a move for Leonardo, who scored on his Benfica debut this week (14 January), has supposedly failed as a direct result of the differences between Moyes and other senior figures.
Unhelpful
There had been reports of clashes between Steidten and Moyes in the summer when there were substantial delays in spending money on signings after the departure of Declan Rice.
At the time there appeared to be a risk of one, or both, leaving the club in the near future, but as the window ended with a relatively fruitful haul of Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mohammed Kudus it looked like the differences had been overcome.
The general assumption through the first half of the season was that the manager was likely on the way out, having been allowed to get so deep into the final year of his contract, with the technical director comparatively secure.
With the surprise development that the Scot is now thought to be signing an extension to remain in charge it may have given him the security to push back against the German once more.
If the club are ready to keep the manager then they are obliged to back him on the targets he wants, but that gives them a decision to make on Steidten’s future unless they want squabbling to continue.
If it is going to be an ongoing feature for a fundamental difference in vision when it comes to each transfer window to get int he way it isn’t conducive to the club getting business done quickly and decisively.
There is merit to Moyes’ preference for established Premier League performers, but Steidten’s hand in landing the likes of Kudus has already clearly paid off, yet unless the two can coexist then this feels like a situation that could be an ongoing issue.
In other West Ham news, the club have made a transfer decision on one of the best young options in the world at a position of need amid a fee update.