There was considerable excitement when the summer transfer window opened and it was reported Tim Steidten had jumped aboard a flight to Brazil—not for the first time, it has to be said—to secure the signature of what we were told was an exciting 18-year-old Brazilian kid by the name of Luis Guilherme.
Traveller Tim has spent so much time in South America recently I fully expected him to pop up somewhere in the currently airing Celebrity Race Across the World series. But I digress.
The furore generated amongst some of our fanbase was such that you could be forgiven for thinking we were signing another Pele, Jairzinho or Ronaldo—a bargain at the reported £25 million price tag if that were to be the case.
Steidten had ridden a wave of adulation based on several younger players he had signed for his previous club, Bayer Leverkusen. The German side ultimately brushing aside all those who stood in their way to win the Bundesliga last season—although Xabi Alonso’s shrewd management had more than a significant impact on that success, I’d argue.
Now there was clear expectation Tim was working to a similar blueprint at West Ham.
The claim was that previous manager David Moyes had refused to allow Steidten his head in the transfer market. Moyes insisting the last word on all deals was his. Now, alongside new Head Coach Julen Lopetegui, Steidten would be calling all the shots. It would be his imprint we would see directing the shape of the new-look West Ham this season.
What followed wasn’t a succession of young footballers—eager, hungry and offering potential. In fact, next in was Wes Foderingham, a 33-year-old goalkeeper from relegated Sheffield United. Then came Max Kilman, a player Lopetegui had insisted on whatever it cost.
They were joined by Crysencio Summerville, Niclas Fullkrug, the 31-year-old German striker, 30-year-old Guido Rodriguez, the experienced Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo (loan with an obligation to buy) and the last-day signing of Carlos Soler from PSG on a season-long loan.
But while the incomings looked well-balanced and structured, the outgoings looked anything but. The ‘For Sale’ signs around the necks of several members of last season’s squad had been largely ignored. Suddenly it was time to turn to operation B—the loan market.
James Ward Prowse was, if we believe what we were told, hastily loaned to Nottingham Forest despite Lopetegui apparently being happy to keep him. Nayaf Aguerd, who had proved difficult to shift despite his obvious desire to move away, was picked up Real Sociedad on loan.
Maxwel Cornet was packed off to Southampton on a late train heading for the coast, while Kurt Zouma somehow negotiated his way through a medical to sign for Al-Orobah in the Saudi Pro League. Danny Ings did what he did for most of last season—sat out proceedings.
To be honest, it didn’t look good from the outside. “Panic mode” was a phrase widely doing the rounds on social media as the window finally slammed shut.
But hold the back page! Just when we thought we could all take a breath and take stock, someone realised we’d ended up with only three central defenders. Julen had insisted he wanted two players for every position, so we needed to find a fourth CD pretty quickly.
Luckily, the ‘Free Transfer’ market was still open for business. Mat Hummels was one option, Joel Matip another, but after organising a hastily arranged friendly to prove his fitness, we opted to offer a trial to John Eagan, a teammate of Foderingham last season at Sheffield United.
So a window that opened with the arrival of an exciting 18-year-old looked like closing with a battle-scarred 31-year-old who missed most of last season through injury – that is before Egan completed an unexpected move to Championship side Burnley. The highs, lows and frequent undulations in between of a typical West Ham United transfer window.
With the international break (God, how I hate them) calling a halt to domestic football, Lopetegui has had an opportunity to take a step back, take stock of what he has to work with, and set the course he wants to take for the season ahead.
Victory at Crystal Palace gave us our first points on the board—our triumph over Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup did us no harm either. Manchester City of course took the spoils from our last Premier League game, but even that defeat didn’t attract the criticism it might have done under the previous manager.
The Cottagers, AKA Fulham, are next up—it’s probably too early to be calling that one a’must win’ game, but it’s certainly a mighty important one in the grand scheme of things.
And what of our boy from Brazil? Those who were besotted back in June may well have to be content with watching him jog up and down on the touchline for a good while longer yet before discovering if he really was worth getting excited about.
