Pundit thrilled by West Ham transfer boost as deal agreed – ‘it doesn’t get better’
Noel Whelan has backed Mark Noble to bring the right “characters” into West Ham he takes an active role in recruitment at the club.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, insisted the 35-year-old “knows how they can progress better than most”.
West Ham confirmed the appointment of Noble as Sporting Director on Thursday (22 September) – just months after his retirement from playing at the end of the 2021-22 season.
As per club media, Noble will be working across “all aspects of the football operation” – including in areas like “academy development, player recruitment, and player and staff wellbeing”.
The post at the London Stadium has been newly created – with the former Irons midfielder set to take up the role at the start of January.
Noble made 550 appearances for West Ham during an 18-year senior career for the London side.
Whelan insisted the former England Under-21 international will only have the club’s “best interests at heart”.
He told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “Noble was a no-brainer.
“He was never going anywhere else but West Ham. He’s been at the club all his life, loves West Ham, only has the best interests at heart.
“Most importantly, he’s been in the changing room. He knows what kind of characters they need.
“I don’t think it gets better than Mark Noble, to be honest. It’s really important to keep these kinds of characters around.
“He knows how they can progress better than most.”
As per Transfermarkt, the Hammers had the third-highest transfer spend this summer (£163.8million), behind Chelsea and Man United.
Chief among their summer recruits was a club-record deal for Brazil international Lucas Paqueta.
In other news, Kieran Maguire “depressed” by West Ham development as fine issued – “no moral code”.