Nuno Espirito Santo set up to fail amid latest transfer development, West Ham chiefs have lost their minds
Nuno Espirito Santo will feel as though he is being hung out to dry at West Ham after the latest development in their January transfer window on Thursday.
The Portuguese boss is under huge pressure at the London Stadium, with fans growing increasingly frustrated at his team’s inability to fight their way out of the Premier League’s relegation zone.
Nuno is among the favourites in the Premier League to become the next boss to lose his job in the coming weeks, with the Irons facing some crucial games on the horizon.
The former Wolves manager has won just three of the 16 games in all competitions since his arrival, but he will be questioning whether the hierarchy are working against him at the moment.
Jamaal Lascelles interest simply baffling from West Ham
Jamaal Lascelles has been firmly out of favour at Newcastle this season, and he has seemingly been searching for a way out of St James’ Park ahead of the January window.
The centre-back has fallen a significant way down Eddie Howe’s pecking order, and West Ham now look prepared to offer him an escape route before the end of the month.
The East Londoners have emerged as a potential suitor for the 32-year-old in the coming weeks, according to the Daily Mail, in what is a simply baffling development.
Lascelles has played just 19 minutes of competitive football for Newcastle all season, and has seen the last few years of his career plagued by consistent, and often serious, injuries.
That will be a completely familiar story for West Ham fans, who have seen ageing arrivals like this all too often in recent years.
However, for Nuno, it will surely feel like a betrayal from the likes of David Sullivan and head of scouting Maximilian Hahn, who must have lost their minds to be considering such a deal.
Football Insider revealed on Monday that West Ham remain reluctant to sack Nuno, and are hopeful that their work in the transfer market can help him to turn their fortunes around.
Yet they appear happy to sign players like Lascelles, who have been deemed surplus to requirements elsewhere in the league.
How many games has Lascelles missed in recent years?
Lascelles suffered an ACL injury at Newcastle during a game against West Ham in March 2024, and it effectively put paid to his career on Tyneside.
The defender missed over a year of football during his recovery process, and his availability record is bleak across recent campaigns.
Lascelles missed 55 games for Newcastle in all competitions with that issue alone, but persistent muscle injuries since then have seen his total of games missed rise to 86 across the last two-and-a-half seasons.
West Ham need support at the centre of their backline with the likes of Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo struggling at the moment, but signing a player like Lascelles is not the right way of achieving that.
If the Newcastle man arrives as the Hammers’ only defensive addition of the window, then Nuno will rightly feel that he isn’t being given the tools to do his job properly.