West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents" | OneFootball

West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents" | OneFootball

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GiveMeSport

·17 September 2021

West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents"

Article image:West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents"

David Moyes has changed the recruitment process at West Ham, according to journalist Paul Brown.

What's the latest transfer news involving West Ham?

It wasn't the busiest summer transfer window at the London Stadium, but the Irons did secure a decent balance between quality and quantity.


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West Ham spent big on former Chelsea centre-back Kurt Zouma and one-time Everton youngster Nikola Vlasic, with the pair costing just shy of £60m combined.

They then bulked out the squad with loan deals for Alex Kral and Alphonse Areola, while completing the permanent signing of last year's temporary addition Craig Dawson.

Article image:West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents"

What has Paul Brown said about West Ham's transfer policy?

Journalist Brown has revealed Moyes' impact on the club's recruitment strategy since returning to east London in 2019, shifting away from David Gold and David Sullivan's contacts and broadening the horizons of where West Ham sign players from.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Brown said; "When Moyes went back there his whole argument was that the recruitment had to change. West Ham were relying far too much on their chairmen and their favourite agents suggesting players and signing them off the back of that.

"So Moyes was all about 'we've got to change the scouting network, we need to go to different places, we need to find different kinds of players' and to an extent that's happened. I do think Moyes has more power now."

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Has the change in approach paid off for West Ham?

It's hard to fault Moyes' signings during his second stint at West Ham - pretty much all of his most significant additions have come good for him.

Jarrod Bowen, Vladimir Coufal, Tomas Soucek and Dawson have all established themselves as starting XI regulars, while Said Benrahma has provided four goal involvements in as many Premier League appearances this season.

Most interesting is where West Ham signed these players from, with all of the above sourced from either Championship clubs or the Czech Republic.

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Article image:West Ham Transfer News: Gold & Sullivan were relying too much on their "favourite agents"

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That's a far cry from some of West Ham's dealings previously, where reputation seemed a bigger consideration than whether players actually suited the team.

Felipe Anderson, Javier Hernandez, Andriy Yarmolenko, Simone Zaza, Joao Mario, Joe Hart and Alvaro Arbeloa all fell firmly into that category, with only the Ukrainian still at the club.

Under Moyes, West Ham have moved away from trying to bring in eye-catching names and turned towards developing talents who can improve both individually and the squad as a whole.

It's hard to argue with the results so far.

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