Which summer 2024 transfer will West Ham regret the most? | OneFootball

Last summer, West Ham signed five players for at least 15 million pounds, added two free transfers, and signed Jean Clair-Todibo on a loan with an obligation to buy in the upcoming summer 2025 transfer window for a grand total of 40 million euros.

Needless to say, the Hammers busy summer of 184.4 million euros in spending (if you include Todibo as part of the final figure) didn't pay immediate dividends, as West Ham are currently 16th in the table after 31 Premier League matches played.

The transfer market always involves a bit of risk, and it is usually the teams with the most money who succeed the most in football in part because they have the funds to withstand the risk of terrible transfers. And yes, even Manchester City make their fair share of terribe transfer blunders, including Matheus Nunes and Kalvin Phillips.

So which West Ham transfer will the club come to regret the most? It's actually not an obvious answer. To wit, West Ham's most expesnive transfer in summer 2024 was center back Max Kilman from Wolves, who cost the team nearly 50 million euros. But he was also, by far, the most successful incoming transfer last season, performing as one of the best center backs in the league. He's already considered one of the Hammers two best players alongside Jarrod Bowen.

Even Todibo at 40 million euros doesn't look like a bad deal either, because he's been a solid Premier League center back. Crysencio Summerville and Luis Guilherme cost 50 milion euros combined, and while the two have had a limited impact - Guilherme especially - in their first seasons, both are young and talented attacking players. Those kinds of profiles are always going to cost a pretty penny, and it usually takes them more than a season to come good. That's especially true when said team hires a failed manager and then replaces said manager in the middle of the season.

If we were solely talking about the worst performers, Carlos Soler and Guido Rodriguez come into focus here, because while both players have established track records of success in LaLiga, they've been barely a step above "useless" for West Ham. And yet, they are pretty much disqualified from being regrettable deals, simply because they were free. Guido was a free transfer, while Soler joined on loan from PSG - a loan that certainly won't be revisited this summer.

That leaves Niclas Fullkrug. And although Fullkrug is a quality striker with several years of success under his belt in the Bundesliga and already looks like the clear starting No. 9 at West Ham when healthy, those last two words are the kicker here. Fullkrug has barely been healthy this season. The bright side of that is he's had no real injury history before joining West Ham, so this is likely bad luck that will readjust in year two. The downside of that is Fullkrug is 32 years old, and players that age tend to start hitting a wall of injuries. Once they do, they can bottom out pretty quickly.

West Ham paid 27 million euros for Fullkrug, and they are only going to get maybe one year of productive football from him next year. His first season is in the red due to injuries, even though he's played very well when actually on the pitch. As much as Fullkrug is an upgrade and an ideal fit for what West Ham needed at the 9, they won't derive any long-term benefit from him and paid a fair bit of money to sign him.

So in a nutshell, Guido Rodriguez and Carlos Soler have been the worst two players on the pitch. Luis Guilherme and Crysencio Summerville have the most boom-or-bust potential. But for reasons other than his actual footballing ability, Fullkrug, a 32-year-old striker burdened by injuries in his first season as a Hammer, could be the transfer West Ham regret the most.