West Ham have had a busy summer transfer window. Andriy Yarmolenko, Ryan Fredericks and David Martin left the club as their contracts expired, Alex Král and Alphonse Areola departed at the end of their loan deals and Mark Noble finally called time on his eighteen-year career as part of the West Ham first team. With Arthur Masuaku and Issa Diop also expected to leave before the window closes, there has been plenty of business to do to remodel the squad in E20.
Nayef Aguerd and Gianluca Scamacca have already arrived on big money transfers from Rennes and Sassuolo, and Flynn Downes joined from Swansea, while Areola’s departure was short-lived as the French goalkeeper resigned from PSG on a permanent deal after impressing in the Europa League last season.
Rumours continue to swirl as West Ham look to solve problem areas heading into the new season and there has been much talk of Eintracht Frankfurt’s Filip Kostić. Manager David Moyes and Head of Recruitment Rob Newman seem keen to recruit a new left-sided player capable of operating in all three left wing positions (left-back, left wing-back and left-midfield) to provide tactical flexibility and alleviate some of the struggles they had on that flank last season.
West Ham failed to successfully implement a back-five system last season, somewhat of a shock given the success that Moyes’ side experienced with this approach in 2020-21. Arthur Masuaku hasn’t truly returned to form since a knee injury ruled him out of the second half of that season, Vladimír Coufal has struggled with a groin injury, Aaron Cresswell has suffered patchy form and the backline has been without one of its stalwarts in Angelo Ogbonna – the Italian suffered an ACL injury back in November as West Ham beat Liverpool 3-2 at the London Stadium.
It’s hoped, then, that those issues in the implementation of a back-five system were personnel and form related rather than systemic. The midfield struggling to successfully press and being played through so easily could be put down to a lack of support from the lateral centre-backs and wing-backs, the failed cover for balls over the top could have come as a result of the fitness issues those centre-backs suffered, and the poor success rate from crosses could have come as a result of performance failures in the wing-back positions.
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