David Moyes admits West Ham are facing a new transfer reality in their bid to sign Shane Duffy.
The Hammers are battling Celtic in the race to secure the 28-year-old who is set to leave Brighton after five seasons.
West Ham hope to convince Duffy to reject his boyhood heroes to stay in the English Premier League in a potential £2m season-long loan deal
But Moyes has fired a sobering update and admits the free-spending days are set to become a thing of the past as his side adjust their budget amid the pandemic.
He said: “I’ve always been more interested in the players we’ve got than the ones who are at other clubs, so I think the improvements we made from the restart after lockdown were good
“We’ve got some bright young players and some players who are improving, so if we can add to it, great, but as I’ve reiterated a few times, the owners spent a lot of money over a year ago, and I’m sure we don’t have that amount of money available to spend again.”
West Ham received a boost after selling Albian Ajeti to Celtic in a £5m deal and added another £5m to their coffers with Jordan Hughill signing for Norwich.
The moderate signing approach comes only 12 months after they spent a combined £70m on Pablo Fornais and misfiring striker Sebastien Haller.
Celtic's quest to land Duffy received a further boost on Monday when the player's brother shared a Celtic crest to his Instagram page.
That followed the former Everton academy graduate telling close friend Sean Roddy he was "clueless" after he hinted a move to the London Stadium was the stopper's preferred destination.
