West Ham spokesperson shares £20m Summerville update
Crysencio Summerville has been the only “value for money” signing made at West Ham United this season, a senior insider has admitted.
The spokesperson at the London Stadium, speaking to Hammers.News (19 January), revealed the Dutchman has been the only successful recruit relative to their price tag since the start of the summer.
The report also details how Tim Steidten – who led the transfer charge and spent over £100million plus appointing the now-sacked Julen Lopetegui as head coach – has been demoted in his directorial role by David Sullivan.
Graham Potter suffered his second defeat in charge of an ailing Irons team at the London Stadium against Crystal Palace on Saturday (18 January), a crash back to earth after beating Fulham last time out.
“We were very poor against Palace,” the key senior spokesman said.
“We have to improve. Summerville at £20million was the only value for money signing. We hope he’s back soon.”
Crysencio Summerville a shining light in poor West Ham side
Quite how West Ham have managed to underwhelm so much this season is pretty extraordinary.
Until recently, the Hammers had not really had too many injury setbacks, aside from that of Niclas Fullkrug who has performed when fit, but been sidelined for the large majority of his stint in London so far.
Fast-forward to Potter’s arrival, and several players including Fullkrug, Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen are all out.
Summerville played just half of the new boss’ first game at Aston Villa in the FA Cup third round (10 January) and assisted Lucas Paqueta, missing the last two outings with a hamstring injury.
Lopetegui was always reluctant to use the summer signing from Leeds United, a preference met with much frustration from the stands inside the London Stadium due to the impact he would tend to have off the bench.
What began as an exciting campaign with a new head coach, a new recruitment model and a strengthened squad, has turned into a write-off of a season with another new head coach and the leader of the recruitment model taken down a peg by his superior.
In other West Ham news, Michael Dawson criticised an experienced Irons player for what he did against Palace.
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