David Moyes waited until the end of the transfer window to sign a defender to replace Fabian Balbuena in the West Ham squad but did so because he wanted the right man for the job.
That man was Kurt Zouma and Moyes was prepared to wait for the France international rather than look at alternatives because he was the player the manager believed would make an instant impact at the club.
Moyes has been proved right, as he so often is in the transfer market, and Zouma has settled into life at the London Stadium with ease. The centre-back has become a mainstay of Moyes' Premier League XI and is now expected to play an even bigger role after Angelo Ogbonna was ruled out for the remainder of the season due to an ACL injury.
Zouma switched sides to fill Ogbonna's boots on the left of the central pairing, with Craig Dawson coming into the team ahead of Issa Diop for the clash against Wolves.
Moyes has revealed that whilst losing Ogbonna is hard to take, he is expecting Zouma to continue his fine form and if anything, keep improving.
"I was worried that if we lost one of our three centre-backs, we could be down. I nearly value a centre-half nearly as important as a centre-forward," Moyes said.
"We worked really hard and Kurt was the one I wanted and the one that was liked. I felt he had Premier League experience, he plays for France, probably not number one in the world at the moment, but maybe two or three.
"To get in that team takes some doing and I think he's still got room for improvement as well. So I hope he can step up, he's already played really well.
"I think for the club he's done a great job. He settled in well. [However] losing Angelo [Ogbonna] is a blow because Angelo gave me a little bit of natural left-sided balance which I've are always preferred as a manager."
After Dawson's struggles against Wolves, the manager may be tempted to return Zouma to his natural right-sided role and bring in Diop for the upcoming fixtures, with the 24-year-old comfortable on the left of the central defence.
