West Ham United must urgently address transfer strategy before January
West Ham United may have splashed a whopping £170million on new players this summer but that isn’t the most alarming statistic.
According to information gathered by CIES Football Observatory, the Irons have bought the third oldest players on average over the past 10 years at an average age of 26.41 years.
They are still not the worst offenders in the Premier League with Chelsea leading the way and Inter Milan from Serie A in between but it is still something that should be addressed.
Some of those figures will be skewed with the early 2010s a wash of over-the-hill signings in on short deals and quickly moved on as most of the current new recruits are much younger than previous ones.
But there is no reason for a club to be buying so many players of age when there can be some real gems and bargains found by searching younger.
Gianluca Scamacca and Lucas Paqueta are the start of what should be the goal for West Ham in the future and signings such as Craig Dawson should only be made in emergency situations.
These figures haven’t included players who have signed in the academy at first which will bring up the average for every team in Europe’s top five leagues but it is there that the Hammers need to focus.
In previous years, the West Ham academy teams have been among the best in the country but that standard has dropped this season with many players heading out on loan.
If David Moyes and his recruitment team can identify players young enough to play for the Under-21s and Under-18s while also being able to play some part in the senior setup, then the quality of the entire club will rapidly increase overnight.