Have Faith In Moyes-He's Only Signed One Dud!

Jordan Hugill..... On the 31st of January 2018, Hugill completed a deadline day move to West Ham United in a reported £10 million transfer deal, becoming manager David Moyes' second signing at the London Stadium after Robert Snodgrass. However he was restricted to a handful of brief cameos in the second half of the 2017–18 season, playing just 22 minutes in total!

'Snoddy' went on to become a fans' favourite, but even he was sent out on loan to Aston Villa having played just 15 games for West Ham without scoring, Snodgrass spent most of the 2017–18 season on loan at Villa, after which he returned to West Ham. The likeable and popular Scot put in some memorable performances before he left the club to join West Bromwich Albion on the 8th of January this year having fallen down the pecking order at the London Stadium.
Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Vladimir Coufal, Craig Dawson and Said Benrahma have all been astute signings, Moyes is known for his due diligence relating to player transfers, a facet engrained in his D & A from years of keeping Everton afloat when they had absolutely NO money.

Moyes has been getting a lot of lack from some West Ham fans who’ve suggested that he is too slow to act in the market, but a quick glance at just a few of the 'inglorious failures' that have been signed in the past makes salient viewing, the list is endless, including the FORTY NINE strikers signed during the Gold/Sullivan/Brady era.

As we have mentioned before, a double deal for West Brom duo Sam Johnstone and Matheus Pereira is most definitely in the offing and would be a great response to those critics. The deal has potential due to the fact that West Ham are still owed a sizeable chunk of the £18 Million they relieved the Baggies of from the sale of Grady Diangana at the beginning of last season.
If you examine the figures closely, you will note Hammers are owed exactly the same amount of money by the Baggies as their most recently increased bid for Sam Johnstone. The £12 Million figure is NOT a coincidence is it? West Brom have also indicated that they will do a loan to buy deal for Matheus Perreira, with a £2 Million loan fee followed by an additional £18 Million, does that figure sound familiar as well?

Essentially, this type of deal will be prevalent in the short term until club's finances begin to recover from the Covid pandemic. Johnstone and Perreira represent two pieces of the transfer jigsaw that David Moyes is trying to put together, under duress. Two or three more and the situation will not look as gloomy as it has done in the last couple of weeks.

West Ham may be broke financially, with a massively unpopular board in charge, but the club still receives more column inches of press and media coverage pro rata than any other club from the top five of the Barclays Premier League, some would say even higher! So, is no news good news? We'll find out soon! - Ed