West Ham: Striker search fallout; Antonio targets success; Sullivan gives verdict

By Jake Jackman

There is going to be more fallout from the transfer window in the coming days and the Express have divulged more information about West Ham’s failed attempts to sign a top tier striker. During an interview on radio station PhoenixFM, Jack Sullivan stated that the wage demands of Alexandre Lacazette and Carlos Bacca prevented them from coming to West Ham.

Both were priority targets for the Hammers and would have excited the fan-base, but they were difficult deals to do. It is encouraging that West Ham won’t put the club’s finances at risk, despite their desire to sign a top striker.

After the move to the London Stadium, West Ham want to build a team capable of challenging at the very top of the league and there are exciting times ahead for the club. However, it is crucial that they don’t run before they can walk in terms of the players they recruit. In the past, we have seen sides spend beyond their means in order to achieve their goals, with Leeds United and Portsmouth being good examples of that.

The Premier League is flushed with money, which only increases the desire to spend big on the squad. West Ham are right to be ambitious, but they need to be careful when it comes to spending and this story suggests they will.

Michail Antonio has been talking about the move to the new stadium and he is hoping that West Ham can now challenge at the very top of the league. Goal carries these quotes from the winger:

“It’s not just massive because it’s a bigger stadium, it’s massive because the more fans that come the better the atmosphere is and the more intimidating it becomes for visiting teams.

“For the club as a business its great as the more revenue we can get then we can start battling with the Chelseas, the Manchester Citys, the Manchester Uniteds, and that’s when we can start battling with the big boys and, why not, winning the Premier League.”

This is the right mentality to have about the move and the club have been making progress year-on-year since returning to the Premier League. It will get harder to continue that trend, as they finished 7^th last season and are already considered a stable top ten club. The final step is the hardest, but they are being run in the right way and the ambition is there to win the Premier League.

It is refreshing to see in the modern game, as several Premier League clubs are happy with just survival and have little ambition to achieve more than that. For that reason, West Ham should be applauded for theirs.

Finally, David Sullivan has spoken out about the transfer window on the official site and has said he is happy with the business done. His press release included this quote:

“The transfer window is now closed and we are delighted that we have been able to bring in 13 players who will hopefully make our squad even stronger. Before the deadline day on Wednesday we had an unbalanced squad and we needed to change a few things around.

“The decision has now been made that Michail Antonio will play as a winger after originally starting the season as a right back. As a result we had to move out a winger, getting a £1.5m loan fee plus wages covered on Enner Valencia, and have brought in a full back to compete with and help Sam Byram.”

The communication from West Ham is refreshing and statements like these allow the supporters to understand why the club has acted as they have. The part about Michail Antonio will please supporters as he wasn’t suited to playing as a right-back and was damaging the side when deployed there. The Englishman scored twice in his last two league matches, but faces huge competition for a starting role.

Their squad is much stronger than it was at the beginning of the summer and the club should be set for another great season.

Featured image: All rights reserved by chao1989