Kaveh Solhekol raves about David Moyes transfers at West Ham
Kaveh Solhekol was raving about David Moyes’ transfers at West Ham after deals for Nikola Vlasic and Alex Kral were completed on deadline day.
Vlasic, 23, joins in a deal worth an initial £26.8million from CSKA Moscow [BBC Sport] while Kral, also 23, has joined on a loan-to-buy basis from Spartak Moscow. According to the London Evening Standard, the Irons will pay £12million to make the deal permanent, plus add-ons.
West Ham also signed defender Kurt Zouma from Chelsea and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola from Paris Saint-Germain in another loan-to-buy deal.
Sky Sports News journalist Solhekol has been thoroughly impressed by Moyes’ transfer business both this summer and in previous windows.
“Obviously other people at West Ham are involved in recruitment as well but [Moyes] has the final say,” said Solhekol on Sky Sports News on Tuesday [07:00pm].
“And just look at the players he’s signed, almost every single player he’s signed has worked out. Jarrod Bowen, [Tomas] Soucek, [Vladimir] Coufal.
“He really wanted Vlasic this summer as well, he really wanted Zouma as well, he really wanted Kral as well.
“Almost every time West Ham sign a player now, you’re looking forward to watching them because you think, ‘wow, this guy could be as good as Tomas Soucek has been’. And David Moyes has always been someone who really, really careful about the players he signs, he watches videos and normally likes going out and watching them himself but obviously because of the pandemic, he hasn’t been able to.
“But he really takes a lot of time and puts a lot of effort into it and he’s done an incredible job when it comes to recruitment, as well as on the pitch.”
What a day
West Ham’s deadline day was way more dramatic than most other clubs in the Premier League.
While they managed to get the Vlasic deal done early, the Kral swoop took a little longer due to the fact the midfielder was away on international duty with the Czech Republic.
As well as that, ExWHUemployee and Evening Standard journalist Jack Rosser mooted a potential third arrival on deadline day to be added to the Hammers’ youth ranks.
While a £1million late swoop was potentially on the cards, nothing came of it but still, we can be kind of pleased with how that transfer window went.
Since the end of last season, we’ve lost Jesse Lingard, Felipe Anderson and Fabian Balbuena but gained Areola, Zouma, Vlasic and Kral while Craig Dawson’s loan was turned into a permanent deal.
Other than the fact we didn’t sign a striker, the squad is definitely stronger now than it was at the end of last season.
We are concerned by the failure to sign a back-up for Michail Antonio, especially due to his injury record.
However, Moyes must have faith in someone like Bowen to step in when needed and the Irons manager hasn’t exactly steered us wrong yet in his second spell at the London Stadium.
In other West Ham news, the club was in deadline day talks to sign this title-winning forward from Europe.
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