WEST HAM may NOT make any more signings this summer, the club’s depressed co-owner David Sullivan has admitted.
He also admitted the club had bought a “pile” of players who’ve failed to make an impact.
David Sullivan has admitted that West Ham may not make any more signingsCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Aside from turning Thomas Soucek’s loan into a permanent move, the Hammers have had a quiet transfer window so far.
West Ham fans – who protested the club’s owners before the 2-0 loss to Newcastle – fumed when academy star Grady Diangana was sold to West Brom for £18million earlier this month.
The winger’s exit also prompted an emotional response from captain Mark Noble, who tweeted he was “gutted, angry and sad” about the decision.
David Moyes has since failed in his efforts to land top target James Tarkowski while Rob Holding has also snubbed West Ham’s advances.
And the club’s co-owner Sullivan has threatened to anger fans once again after expressing his doubt that any players would come in.
He told talkSPORT: “It’s the manager’s decision.
“He doesn’t want to bring in players who are just numbers, just squad players. He wants to bring players in who will improve the team.
“We have a number of bids in for a number if players, but teams don’t want to lose them; these are key players at decent sized clubs outside the UK.
“They don’t want to lose them so whether we get any of these players I do not know.”
I cannot say for sure that we are going to sign anybody. As each day passes I am getting more depressed
West Ham co-owner David Sullivan
He continued: “We’ve got a very unbalanced squad. We’ve now got the funds to buy a player or two, but unfortunately at the moment the players the manager wants we can’t get, and he’ll be spending 18 hours a day looking at types trying to find players.
“I’m waiting for targets for the manager and we’ve got two or three bids in, but unfortunately the benchmark is very high and it’s very hard to get those players.
“We have got limited funds; if we had £400million to spend and someone said you spend 10 per cent of it – £40m – on a 28-year-old centre-back from a Premier League club who will remain nameless, at £40m you’d probably get the player out.
“For 10 per cent of your budget it would probably make sense but to spend your entire budget on a 28-year-old centre-back…
“We’ve also got the fact we’ll probably get no gate money for the rest of the season and we’ve got to keep the club afloat and pay wages.
“We’ve chased dreams the last two years and bought a pile of players who haven’t impacted the club, and maybe they will over the coming seasons because there are some damned good players; the reserve team we are putting out in the Carabao Cup is a very, very good team, particularly in attack… but we are short of defenders.
“I can’t just go and sign two or three players the manager doesn’t want. I could quite easily tomorrow go and sign two or three players but we’d have a civil war at West Ham, because I don’t pick the players.
“We have a manager who is a manager, not a coach; if he was a coach I could do that, but that’s not the way it works at West Ham – the managers pick the teams.
“I cannot say for sure that we are going to sign anybody. As each day passes I am getting more depressed.”
Adrian Durham says West Ham players Mark Noble and Jack Wilshere were wrong to comment on Grady Diangana’s sale
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
