As the summer transfer window is now open the West Ham transfer rumour mill is starting to run. The miller is now believed to be called Will Salthouse.
Will Salthouse’s agency Unique Sports Management has been linked to the club via the number of players that are under his agency that have found their way to West Ham. Players such as Ryan Fredericks, Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio and Darren Randolph have all arrived at the club in recent years.
Once more some players that have been linked to the club are also under the watch of Salthouse. The Hammers have been linked to players including Christoph Zimmermann, Olivier Ntcham, Badou Ndiaye, Che Adams and Callum Wilson and there is time for them to be linked or make moves to the club again.
Now the most-watched player from the Championship, Saïd Benrahma, is also on the list of players represented by Salthouse. West Ham will be hoping that Salthouse will play a big role in bringing him to the club, especially if they miss out on Eberechi Eze who could be on his way to Crystal Palace.
Benrahma has been linked to a lot of teams in the Premier League, and a move will look likely should Brentford not earn promotion from the Championship. The Bees are currently 1-0 down to Swansea City and on course to miss out on promotion should they not stage a comeback in the second leg.
It has been reported by trusted ITK ExWHUemployee that West Ham owners David Gold and David Sullivan prefer to use “trusted agents” to sign players such as Salthouse. There has been criticism of this from multiple people, many of which believe the club should invest in a proper scouting system, so they can identify their own target and not be brought players by agents with a vested interest.
This is exactly what I’ve been saying on the podcast about recruitment and they couldn’t have said it better. We have one scout, most deals are through their “trusted” agents and literally depends on who they can get and is never ever strategic-it’s reactionary-a complete mess🤦🏻♂️ https://t.co/RQt2yP9dfg
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) January 26, 2020
There have been plenty of issues surrounding West Ham since the move to the London Stadium and one of the main ones have been transfers. Hammers fans were promised “a world-class team in a world-class stadium” by Karen Brady and it is yet to materialise for one reason or another.
It becomes incredibly hard to build a team around a specific system or philosophy if your targets are limited to a few agents lists. Instead of being able to sign players that will fit the best, the club will have to settle for players that best match what they want even if they are not the one.
This is backwards, especially when considering the promises made to the fans that they would see top targets brought in, not the best second or third choice. For West Ham to succeed in the future there needs than massive revisit and re-evaluation to the way it recruits players.