Lack of quality at left continues to highlight West Ham recruitment issues

It’s pretty obvious that West Ham have recruitment issues. But that issue is probably most stark when looking at the quality at left-back.

As it stands, West Ham are set to go into the season with Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku as their first team left-backs for the 5th season in a row. In my opinion, this shows that the Hammers have a real issue regarding recruitment that stems from one of two issues. Or maybe both.

Firstly, do the hierarchy genuinely believe that these options are good enough for the club in the Premier League? Or, secondly, are the club unable to highlight options within our budget to bring to the club?

Issue One: It’s not so bad…is it?

So, do the club genuinely believe that for five years Masuaku and Cresswell have been good enough for the club? Well, Masuaku was signed as a semi-emergency buy when Cresswell suffered a big injury in pre-season, and prior to that Cresswell was genuinely performing as a Premier League left-back. So that season could be argued that we thought we were OK, and many fans wouldn’t have an issue for that. However, that’s when it begins to fall apart.

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After the 2016/17 season, it was pretty obvious to most observers that the two options we had were not good enough defensively. Cresswell was struggling with confidence after the injury and looked shaky in the challenge, and Masuaku’s dribbling and desire to get forward highlighted him as more of a winger option than a serious left-back. Maybe they thought other areas needed reinforcements first, or Cresswell’s form would return. So another year off maybe.

But after that, they headed into the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons with full awareness of what they had. They genuinely looked at the rest of the squad and decided that the left-back position just wasn’t worth investing in. Last season we had the 10th best attack by goals scored, but the 5th worst by goals conceded.

It was pretty similar in the year before that, with 10th best in attack but 12th best defence, however, the year before (in 17/18) we had the 8th best attack and the worst defence. Since that season, according to transfermarkt, we have spent only thirty-two million euros on defenders, ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-SIX MILLION EUROS on other positions and NOTHING on full-backs in particular. How is that balanced or strengthening our flaws?

Issue Two: Is there anyone out there?

So, is it simply a case that there are no left-backs out there that would both strengthen the squad and want to join? Maybe the David’s are desperate to try and add a left-back but there just weren’t any viable options. But that flies in the face of the fact that the Premier League has, over the last two years, spent upwards of 200 million on left-backs.

Are we saying that every single one of those players would have been out of our price range, unwilling to join the club or not an improvement on what we have? This is an oversimplification as well, as money has been spent in other leagues that would have certainly represented options for West Ham.

For me, it links very well with where we’ve spent our money. The owners, given that they have largely been in charge of transfers for the past 5/6 years, are unwilling to spend large money on what they see as unimportant or boring moves. They want to drive up merchandise sales with big names and attacking flair, but are unwilling to make purchases that make genuine football over financial sense.

If you want to see the options that are out there, you only have to read this website and the authors have gone through a variety of options, from small budget to potential first-team stars that could leave their sides this summer. We’re not a big scouting operation, we’re a group of freelance journalists using our own knowledge and stat banks to look for viable options. We know that there are often more roadblocks in the way of an actual transfer, but surely not all of the options we proposed are impossible?

Unfortunately, this sums up the way West Ham is being run. Spending money on the flashy parts, with no consideration for the meat needed to run a successful club. Without reinforcements at full-back and left-back in particular, we’re going to struggle again.