Why West Ham owners should let David Moyes take lead in the transfer window

Main man: David Moyes
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Jack Rosser @JackRosser_18 September 2020

Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Charlton will have done little to ease the anger brewing towards the West Ham hierarchy.

A chaotic start to the season, with captain Mark Noble publicly criticising the board, early murmurings of fan protests and David Moyes being given no new arrivals since the last campaign ended, was only accentuated when Newcastle took all three points at the London Stadium on the opening day.

Moyes is now staring down the barrel of a run of games that sees his side take on Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool before the end of next month, with Wolves and Leicester thrown in for good measure. Every point will have to be hard-won.

The Hammers insist their pursuit of James Tarkowski is still alive but have as yet refused to meet Burnley’s asking price of at least £30million up front.

If the England defender is the man Moyes believes can fix his problems at the back, there should be no qualms from the owners about meeting the asking price if West Ham can afford it. If they cannot, then move swiftly on to the next target and give Moyes what he so dearly needs.

What the club cannot afford to do is what Manchester United have been guilty of in recent years — refusing to pay an asking price for months and then paying it anyway.

The sale of Grady Diangana was “reluctantly” sanctioned so new signings could be made. There is still time to run in the window but with such a fearful run of fixtures ahead, Moyes needs new blood as quickly as possible.

David Sullivan, who has no interest in selling the club amid interest from an American consortium, may well earn some credit back with fans should he hand Moyes the lead on transfers before the window shuts next month.

The January window was very much run by the Scot, who targeted and brought in Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek to roaring success.

Moyes even conceded last week that West Ham may have been relegated without the pair, who were rested in midweek.

With it being so early in the season, time is on Moyes’s side and the mood can be shifted at some pace.

The Hammers have a knack for pulling out a result against top-six sides when least expected — a 3-2 win over Chelsea turning the tide last season, while they drew 1-1 at United, having secured their safety — and Moyes will be desperate to see the same sort of fight at the Emirates this weekend.

The swift arrival of a new centre-back and, the Hammers hope, a full-back can also flip the perspective.

Moyes insists no one inside the camp has been rocked by their tumultuous start this season, going so far as to say it has united the squad. Tomorrow night would be a timely moment to prove it.