What West Ham target Anthony Musaba has said about playing in the Championship already
West Ham United-linked Anthony Musaba has experience playing Championship football, but has admitted it wasn't easy for him.
With Crysencio Summerville likely to leave this summer, as well as the potential for Jarrod Bowen and others to depart, West Ham will be keen to reinforce their options out wide in the coming weeks.
Adama Traore has also left as a free agent as well, further chipping away at Nuno Espirito Santo's depth down the flanks.
Musaba appears to be a player on the Hammers' transfer radar though, despite the 25-year-old having only just signed for Turkish giants Fenerbahce in January.
A former Dutch youth international, he scored twice and provided five assists in 23 total appearances for Fenerbahce in the second half of last season, proving he would be a quality addition to the Irons' squad.
It wouldn't be the first time Musaba made a switch to the Championship either, having spent two years playing in England's second tier with Sheffield Wednesday between 2023 and 2025.
Anthony Musaba confessed Championship is 'very, very tough'
Musaba is used to having pressure placed on his shoulders, with a number of big clubs on his CV.
The winger spent time as a youngster in both Vitesse and NEC Nijmegen's academy systems, before eventually graduating into the senior ranks with the latter.
French giants AS Monaco splashed out on a seven-figure fee to bring him to Ligue 1 in the summer of 2020, but he only ever made one appearance for them, which came in the Champions League against Sparta Prague.
Loans across Europe with the likes of Cercle Brugge, SC Heerenveen and Metz respectively would follow, before Monaco eventually sold him to Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 2023.
In total, he would make 80 appearances for the Owls with 72 of those coming in the Championship.
Wednesday finished 20th and 12th respectively in his two seasons in the Steel City, and Musaba admitted that the Championship was a much higher level than what he was used to playing at.
Speaking via The Star in a October 2023 interview, Musaba said: “It’s tough, very tough. The level is high and it doesn’t matter which club you are playing; it can be from the bottom or up at the top, the teams are tough and it’s a tough competition.
“The football is fast, really fast. You have to be really fit and have a connection with the game or you won’t handle it.
“It’s a very technical league, you do have time to do some stuff, but everything goes quickly around you.
“It’s the intensity and the level. I am enjoying the challenge.”
Musaba proved he can handle Championship football
Dutch outlet Soccernews.nl have claimed that West Ham are among a host of sides taking a keen interest in signing Musaba this summer.
However, with Musaba not hiding from the fact he was finding playing in the Championship hard, should that set alarm bells off in the minds of Hammers transfer chiefs?
The answer to that question is a resounding, no, as he really came to life as time went on with Sheffield Wednesday.
Musaba scored seven goals and registered five assists in 43 league games during his debut 2023-24 season, before netting three and chipping in with six assists from 29 second-tier outings in 2024-25 respectively.
As per FotMob, the winger took 48 shots on goal with 17 of those being on target, completed 57 successful dribbles and took 117 touches in the opposition box in 2023-24.
Meanwhile, 2024-25 saw him provide 0.41 assists, take 6.05 touches in the opposition box and complete 2.04 successful dribbles per 90 minutes in the Championship.
Now slightly more experienced and having enjoyed some quality production in Turkey over the last 12 months, West Ham shouldn't have any concerns over whether Musaba's words would forebode any potential struggles if he was to make a move to the London Stadium.