West Ham have submitted their squad for the Premier League campaign up until the closure of the January transfer window and it raises a couple of alarm bells.
There were no real surprises either included or omitted from the list of 23 that was submitted to the Premier League, though that is two short of what the Hammers are allowed to put in.
They also included Nathan Holland and Nathan Trott in the squad, though both aren’t pushing for first team places at the current juncture.
New recruits Said Benrahma, Craig Dawson and Vladimir Coufal were confirmed in the squad. Dawson counts as a home grown player, of which rules state you must have at least eight players.
In fact, the Hammers have gone one better and announced nine homegrown players in their squad.
Two first team players, Declan Rice and Ben Johnson, were not named in the Premier League 23 but they were included as part of the under-21 players. Rules stipulate you can name up 25 players for your top flight squad but you can have an unlimited number of under-21s.
In the top flight 23, the Hammers named four goalkeepers - Lukasz Fabianski, Darren Randolph, David Martin and the aforementioned Trott. That leaves just 19 outfield players for Hammers manager David Moyes to choose from unless he calls up some of the youngsters.
It highlights a major concern when looking at the squad in that there is a lack of depth. West Ham sold Albian Ajeti, Jordan Hugill and Grady Diangana during the transfer window and also allowed Felipe Anderson to depart on loan for the season to Porto.
Jack Wilshere, Pablo Zabaleta and Carlos Sanchez were all released, Roberto left the club to join Real Valladolid and Josh Cullen also departed to sign for Anderlecht.
Benrahma, Dawson and Coufal were the three recruits brought in to replace those who departed but that is clearly less than what was allowed to leave the club this summer.
Talented striker Mipo Odubeko, who featured for the first team in pre-season, is named among the contract and scholars along with Rice and Johnson as are other highly-rated youngsters in Ajibola Alese, Harrison Ashby, Manny Longelo, Conor Coventry who have all played in the Carabao Cup this season for David Moyes’ side. Jamal Baptise is also included.
West Ham United’s 23-man squad (*Home grown)
Antonio, Michail Gregory*
Balbuena Gonzalez, Fabian Cornelio
Benrahma, Mohamed Said
Bowen, Jarrod*
Coufal, Vladimir
Cresswell, Aaron William*
Dawson, Craig*
Diop, Issa Laye Lucas Jean
Fabianski, Lukasz
Fornals Malla, Pablo
Fredericks, Ryan*
Haller, Sebastien Romain Teddy
Holland, Nathan Elliot*
Lanzini, Manuel
Martin, David Edward*
Masuaku Kawela, Fuka-Arthur
Noble, Mark James*
Ogbonna, Obinze Angelo
Randolph, Darren*
Snodgrass, Robert
Soucek, Tomas
Trott, Nathan Wallace Newman*
Yarmolenko, Andrii
U21 players (Contract and Scholars)
Adarkwa, Sean Jordan
Adebayo, Iyiola El-Ameen
Adu, Michael Asare
Alese, Ajibola
Anang, Joseph Tetteh
Appiah-Forson, Keenan
Ashby, Harrison
Ashley, Ossama Wassim
Baptiste, Jamal
Caiger, Samuel Alfie
Chesters, Daniel Peter James
Coddington, Remy Taye Stephon
Corbett, Kai Michael James
Costa da Rosa, Bernardo
Coventry, Conor James
Diallo, Amadou
Dju, Mesaque Geremias
Evans, Isaac Paul Ernest
Fevrier, Jayden Raymond
Forbes, Michael
Greenidge, William Winston
Heal, Benjamin Atticus William
Hegyi, Krisztian
Jinadu, Daniel Oluwagbolade
Johnson, Benjamin Anthony
Kemp, Daniel
Kileba, Gael Mulamba
Knightbridge, Jacob Christopher
Lewis, Alfie
Longelo Mbule, Emmanuel
Odubeko, Ademipo Ibrahim
Okotcha, Joshua
Peake, Lennon
Perkins, Sonny Tufail
Potts, Freddie
Rice, Declan
Roach, Joshua Michael Phillip
Robinson, Carl Junior
Sanneh, Serine
Soares Cardoso, Goncalo Bento
Swyer, Kamarai Joshua
Thomas, Brandon Val
Veliky, Christian
Woods, Archie James
