West Ham United’s return to the Championship has brought a significant uplift, as star player and captain Jarrod Bowen has committed his future to the club, solidifying his role as both leader and key scorer.
Bowen’s decision comes as a welcome relief following the departure of Mateus Fernandes, who joined Tottenham in a high-profile £85 million move, and with winger Crysencio Summerville poised to sign with Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia.
Looking ahead to their first campaign in the Championship after 15 years in the top flight, West Ham faces both on and off-field challenges. The coming six weeks are critical as the club aims to make an immediate return to the Premier League.
Jarrod Bowen extended his commitment to West Ham, providing a timely morale boost for the team.
The summer saw Mateus Fernandes make a significant move from West Ham to Tottenham, with a transfer fee of £85 million.
What do West Ham need?
For a few seasons now, there’s been talk of a much-needed West Ham overhaul. Too many players, signed by too many different people, for too many different managers and, crucially, for too much money, had left an ageing, unbalanced squad not fit for the Premier League.
That overhaul never really came but now relegation to the Championship, and the financial constraints that come with it, have forced their hand, while a change in ownership could well see it through.
Top stars, though not all of them, have gone and will continue to leave so they need to strengthen all over. So far, the only addition has been making Under 21s loanee Keiber Lamadrid’s move permanent from Venezuelan side Deportivo la Guaira.
West Ham could do with a new striker. Taty Castellanos did pretty well after arriving for £25m in January but his fellow winter window signing Pablo offered little. For all the dirty work off the ball and his £21.8m fee, he’s yet to score a single goal.
Callum Wilson had flirted with extending his contract for another season after a solid debut campaign with several crucial goals that nearly kept the club up, but the Englishman has now joined Brentford on a one-year deal.
Nicklas Fullkrug – remember him? – is back from his loan at AC Milan but he is on the list of players the club want to sell if anyone will have him.
The £85m departure of all-round midfielder Fernandes leaves a massive hole for Nuno Espirito Santo to fill.
Even though Konstantinos Mavropanos, voted Hammer of the Year, has been offered an updated contract similar to the one signed by Bowen, West Ham are still desperate for defensive additions, with further departures expected in that area.
West Ham have only made one signing so far this summer – making Keiber Lamadrid’s loan move from Venezuela permanent
Hammer of the Year Konstantinos Mavropanos has been offered a new deal
What’s the latest on Summerville?
The Hammers have agreed to sell Summerville to Al Hilal for around £55m. It’s quite the throwback to the good old days of transfer deals, where a fee is agreed first between the buying and selling club.
Nowadays, clubs usually agree terms with the prospective player (even though tapping up in an official capacity is still banned) with the fee the last piece of the jigsaw to be thrashed out.
This was very much the other way around and, for a while, looked like it could prove a sticking point. Summerville was understood to prefer a move to a European side, despite the heftier wages the Saudis can offer.
Summerville was on Manchester United’s radar and the Red Devils held exploratory talks with West Ham. Roma were also seriously interested and while their first offer of £39m was much lower than Al Hilal’s, they have spent the last few days trying to thrash out a more lucrative proposal.
However, it is understood Summerville – who scored five goals in 31 Premier League games last season – has now agreed to the Saudi move, meaning the Hammers will bank the best part of £140m for the departure of just two players.
Crysencio Summerville is set to join Saudi side Al Hilal for £55m
Which other players could leave?
Jean-Clair Todibo is keen to depart, and Nuno wants him gone too. The centre back refused to play in West Ham’s final-day relegation decider against Leeds after being substituted just 26 minutes into the penultimate game of the season against Newcastle.
A few clubs are interested. Marseille have been keeping tabs as have Juventus but neither have yet tabled bids. They would prefer loans, West Ham wouldn’t but might have no choice.
AC Milan had the option to buy Fullkrug this summer after his loan expired but, unsurprisingly, opted against it. Fiorentina have shown loose interest but nothing more. West Ham have accepted that they are unlikely to get back the £27m they paid Borussia Dortmund for him two summers ago.
Midfielder Edson Alvarez and goalkeeper Alphonse Areola are also on the ‘for sale’ list, the latter especially now that Mads Hermansen has nailed down his place as Nuno’s No 1 despite the shaky start to his Hammers career.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka is also a player West Ham are willing to sell for the right price. They want £25m for him and there’s mild interest from Lazio, while he is on Arsenal’s long-list of targets.
There have been rumours that David Moyes is keen to bring him to Everton but sources told Daily Mail Sport that interest is wide of the mark.
Jean-Clair Todibo is keen to depart, and head coach Nuno Espirito Santo wants him gone too
West Ham want £25m for right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka (left), who is on Arsenal’s long-list
What convinced Bowen to stay?
There was widespread feeling before the summer that relegation would spell the end for the club captain’s time at West Ham.
England boss Thomas Tuchel hinted that being embroiled in a relegation scrap for a poor team had hindered Bowen’s chances of selection for his World Cup squad ahead of others, despite scoring and assisting more goals than all the other England wingers in the Premier League last season.
‘Does Jarrod suffer a bit from the situation at his club? It is difficult for him,’ said Tuchel. ‘Does Noni (Madueke) and Bukayo (Saka) profit from the situation of their club (Arsenal)?’
Even father-in-law Danny Dyer said he’d begrudgingly accept Bowen leaving for Real Madrid or Manchester City. No one has to worry about that anymore. Bowen has agreed to stay to try to get West Ham back into the Premier League.
The club have inserted a release clause into Bowen’s deal, which kicks in if West Ham fail to secure an instant return to the top flight. He will also receive a fair whack as a bonus if they do.
Bowen flew to Prague for talks with Daniel Kretinsky, the impending majority shareholder following the departure of David Sullivan, and his lieutenant Jiri Svarc.
The Hammers skipper was impressed by the ambition and clarity of the man soon to be at the helm. Kretinsky knew that the biggest marker he could put down for how the club will be run under his watch was to convince Bowen to stay, not only to give West Ham the best shot at promotion but also to send a message to the rest of the club, squad and prospective signings that they mean business.
That Bowen (right) played for a relegated team hurt his chances of making England’s World Cup squad as he slipped down the pecking order behind the likes of Bukayo Saka (centre)
Owner Daniel Kretinsky managed to convince Bowen to stay over talks in Prague
How is life after Sullivan impacting transfers?
At the start of June, Sullivan resigned from his position as co-chair after 16 years at the club in the wake of ‘serious historic allegations’ about his conduct, ones he describes as ‘entirely false’.
For all the heads of recruitment or technical directors that have come and gone over the years, it was always Sullivan who had final say on transfers. Insiders believe the club is already working more efficiently, in the knowledge that too many mistakes have been made in the past. Everyone, at last, is pulling in the same direction.
Interim CEO Karim Virani is running the ship and new head of recruitment Nils Koppen, who joined from Copenhagen at the start of July, is getting his feet under the table with his data-led approach to identifying targets.
The feeling is that everything is more aligned. Nuno is unlikely now to come to work to find out, despite all the planning, that the owner has suddenly spent £30m on an injury-prone striker just because he wants to, although his super agent Jorge Mendes is still believed to be trying to exert his influence.
There’s less than a month to go until the Championship opener against promotion rivals Burnley, so already some supporters are starting to get twitchy. The sense from within the club, however, is that they are finally implementing a process they can trust, one in which they don’t have to panic buy.
New head of recruitment Nils Koppen (pictured) has reunited with interim CEO Karim Virani, who he worked with previously at Rangers
How much money do they have to spend?
With almost £140m in the bank from just two sales, one might think West Ham are all set to splash the cash. It’s not quite that straightforward just yet.
West Ham lost £104.2m in their most recent accounts and the club need to make sure they comply with new Squad Cost Rules (SCR) for this season that limit spending on transfers, wages and agent fees to 85 per cent of revenue. SCR, at least, will ignore the huge losses they made.
Club sources suggested how much of their transfer incomings can be splashed on future signings will become clearer once the ownership issues, the passing of shares and discussions over outstanding debts, have been resolved. The priority first is making sure the club is viable and in line with SCR.
Kretinsky is expected to inject a substantial amount once he takes de facto control, with SCR allowing owner injections of up to £33m over three years.
That’s not to say that West Ham aren’t pressing ahead with targets, even if sources suggested that incoming deals may happen later in the window. As such, Koppen has also informed the club’s youngsters that it will be a week or two until they find out whether they will be a part of the first team or shipped out on loan.
Who are they after?
Axel Disasi, who made a superb impact on loan from Chelsea last season, is their key target but does not want to commit to Championship football at this stage of the window and would prefer to find himself a new club in the Premier League or overseas. Chelsea are believed to want £25m for the 28-year-old Frenchman.
Southampton centre back Taylor Harwood-Bellis is on West Ham’s shortlist for centre backs
The Hammers are also keen on Celtic’s Arne Engels, a former target of Nottingham Forest
They have enquired about Midtjylland and Ecuador midfielder Denil Castillo (right)
Cardiff’s Dylan Lawlor and Leicester’s Ben Nelson are also options on their defender shortlist, as well as Southampton centre back Taylor Harwood-Bellis.
The departure of Fernandes has left them keen to bolster the midfield and West Ham are understood to have enquired about Portugal Under-21 international Gustavo Sa at Famalicao and Denil Castillo at Midtjylland, who was an unused substitute in all of Ecuador’s games at the World Cup.
The Hammers are also keen on Arne Engels at Celtic, whom Nottingham Forest tried to sign for £25m in January. The Belgian is said to want to test himself at a higher level and there’s a feeling among sources in Scotland that the summer is the ideal time to cash in on one of their main assets.
Insiders say any deal could hinge on whether Celtic get a deal over the line for Paderborn midfielder Mika Baur.
