West Ham’s summer transfer window has burst into life with five deals worth £100m in progress and there’s money to spare.
Julen Lopetegui does not officially start as West Ham’s new head coach until July 1st.
But he has been working hard with Hammers technical director Tim Steidten behind the scenes to plan a much-needed West Ham overhaul.
As things stand Lopetegui will have just 16 senior players available to him in pre-season.
The Spaniard – unlike his predecessor David Moyes – wants a full squad of 25 players to work with at West Ham.
So at least eight or nine signings are needed this summer.
Hammers get busy in major overhaul
West Ham reportedly have a budget of £100m.
That is not a huge amount considering the volume of players needed.
But it has always been how you spend and not what you spend in football.
Some of West Ham’s best signings down the years have been among the cheapest from Trevor Sinclair to Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Craig Dawson and many more.
Even Jarrod Bowen was a major West Ham bargain at £20m.
So the rebuild can be done on that budget. Especially with any additional funds from sales adding to the kitty too.
And in Steidten, West Ham have the right man overseeing that spending.
The German has been in Brazil working on a host of deals and further reports emerged from Spain and Portugal about other moves over the weekend.
Now West Ham’s window has burst into life with five deals worth £100m in progress.
Window bursts into life with five deals worth £100m
There are four on the way in and one on the way out leaving the Hammers money to spare for further transfers.
That’s if reports over the weekend are accurate.
In excellent news for West Ham’s transfer funds, Scottish journalist Alan Nixon claims Atletico Madrid are now pushing to complete the signing of Nayef Aguerd for up to £30m.
Nixon states on his Patreon that the Spanish club hope to agree a fee with the Hammers soon and Aguerd wants the move to La Liga.
“Aguerd’s old club Rennes want him back and could even offer more than Atletico, but the player is more interested in a fresh challenge,” Nixon said.
Yesterday a fresh report from Spain claimed West Ham are closing on a deal to reunite Lopetegui with striker Youssef En-Nesyri.
Hammers News was the first to reveal the fact En-Nesyri is the striker Lopetegui had on a list he handed to David Sullivan and Steidten when interviewed for the job.
The Moroccan is being sold by Sevilla for £17m as a matter or urgency due to the fact they face imminent financial penalties if they don’t raise funds.
Four in, one out at West Ham
Over in Portugal journalist Sebastiao Sousa Pinto claims the Hammers have a meeting scheduled this week for brilliant attacker Jota Silva.
Pinto says Vitoria de Guimaraes star Jota Silva, who can play across the front-line, is in line to join West Ham on a four-year deal for his £17m release clause.
“Jota Silva to West Ham deal: Meeting scheduled in the next days,” Pinto said.
“No official offer has yet been made to Vitoria de Guimaraes. Four-year deal discussed. Release clause is 20 million euros (£17m).
Then comes the exciting one, Luis Guilherme.
Yesterday Fabrizio Romano claimed the Brazilian midfield sensation will fly to London for a medical this week after a deal worth £25m plus a 20 per cent sell-on was agreed with Palmeiras.
Guilherme has also agreed to the move for a player dubbed the ‘new Ronaldinho’.
In a strange twist the final deal in progress is Fabricio Bruno.
West Ham had agreed a £12.5m deal with Flamengo for the centre-back only for the move to collapse over personal terms and circumstances.
We revealed the real reason the deal hit the skids last week.
But The Evening Standard claims West Ham are still in talks to sign the 28-year-old Brazilian in the hope of convincing him to come to the London Stadium.
So that’s five deals worth around £100m in the works with four in and one out.
The net spend for the Hammers would be around £70-75m.
So that leaves Steidten with another £25m of the alleged budget to spend not allowing for any further sales.