West Ham’s transfer strategy for the next few weeks is likely to focus on improving the team’s leaky defence as a move for Eberechi Eze is seemingly put to the back burner.
Football.London understands that David Moyes, as well as the Hammers board, are big fans of Eze and want to bring him to east London but attacking recruits are no longer the priority in the transfer window with funds extremely tight in E20 and Eze expected to go for a price of £16million at the very least.
Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion are also interested in Eze and the Eagles have made the first move, seeing a £12million offer rejected with QPR aiming to collect at least £16million for their prized asset this summer. It is believed that Moyes has already held talks with Eze's representatives, as have West Brom.
The Hammers are certainly interested in Eze but know they will need to sell to buy, with Felipe Anderson and Manuel Lanzini both in the shop window though no offers have arrived for either player yet.
The club is loathed to put bids in for players when their whole strategy this summer is based around shifting players on to free up funds. Both Anderson and Lanzini are currently enjoying holidays in Italy ahead of a return to pre-season training in a fortnight's time.
Moyes has been looking to strengthen his backline for some time, especially in the full back area and has been linked with Nottingham Forest’s Matty Cash for a second time having seen a bid rejected for his services back in January.
Wigan’s Antonee Robinson, River Plate’s Gonzalo Montiel and Manchester United’s Diego Dalot have all been linked with switches to east London as Moyes looks to strengthen a backline that shipped 62 goals in the 2019/20 season.
Ben Johnson’s emergence at the end of the season has seen Moyes reduce the number of targets he is looking at as the youngster proved himself to be a viable option for the manager at either left back or right back.
West Ham’s co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold met, virtually of course, on Monday to discuss the transfer window and how the club moves forward in a Covid world with the prospect of empty stadiums still a distinct possibility for some time to come and a lack of ticket money, matchday income and other sources of cash.
There is awareness at board level that Moyes needs to bring in new faces this summer to avoid another relegation battle.
But in terms of incomings and outgoings in east London after the first ten days of the transfer window, it’s all very quiet in east London and it is set to remain that way for some time until the budget is sorted - and how it will be funded.
