Kieran Maguire: West Ham well placed to break records in the summer after £135m-plus reveal
West Ham could spend big in the summer transfer market after they kept their powder dry this January.
That is the view of finance guru Kieran Maguire, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about the Hammers’ recruitment ambitions.
Kurt Zouma, Nikola Vlasic, Alex Kral and Craig Dawson all joined on permanent deals last summer for a total of close to £70million.
But the 5th-place Irons ultimately did not add to their garrison in the recently-closed January window.
As quoted by talkSPORT on Wednesday (2 February), David Moyes revealed they had submitted “three record transfer bids” throughout the window.
The Hammers’ previous record signing was Sebastien Haller in July 2019 for £45m, meaning three record bids would have equalled over £135m.
Maguire suggests that there is scope for West Ham to push the envelope even further in the summer window.
“We all know who the sneaky six are but there are clearly other ambitious clubs,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“West Ham are aiming to establish themselves as the best of the rest when it comes to revenue in the Premier League.
“They have the capacity of the stadium, which puts them in a strong position.
“Their revenue in 20-21 was £193m, whereas, for example, Newcastle’s was £153m. So there’s a gap there.
“There are some technical reasons for those gaps, but there’s no doubting their ambitions.
“They have had the approval to expand the stadium in terms of the number of seats. They have also been delivering on the pitch.
“There is scope to increase that wage bill, which is £129m. If you look at their peer group, Leucesters’s is £157m and Everton’s is £165m.
“So, yes, they can spend more than previous limits in that area and that will be reflected in their ambitions in the summer transfer market.”
The Hammers were widely linked with bids for Leeds United stars Raphinha and Kalvin Phillips.
A Leeds source told this site on Thursday (3 February) that they are now confident of tying Raphinha to a bumper new deal.
In other news, pundit suggests West Ham star Rice “annoyed” after January failure and could ask to leave this summer.