West Ham completed the loan transfers of four players on the final day of the transfer window, with James Ward Prowse, Nayef Aguerd, Maxwel Cornet and Kurt Zouma all leaving the Hammers on a season long loan transfer this season. However, there was a big surprise as one West Ham player stayed at the club despite attracted transfer interest from several European teams this summer. The player is Andy Irving, who joined West Ham from Austrian side Klagenfurt in 2023, but spent the last season back on loan to Klagenfurt.
In the preseason, Irving was a part of the Julen Lopetegui's squad that played matches against Ferencvaros, Dagenham as well as the Sunshine State Tour matches. Coming on as a second half substitute in the Ferencvaros match, Irving gave an assist on Nayef Aguerd's last minute 2-2 equaliser. Irving followed his good performance with another impressive display against Dagenham, scoring the only goal of the match with a brilliant finish to win the match.
Surprising reason why Andy Irving stayed at West Ham this season
In the Sunshine State Tour matches against Wolves and Crystal Palace, Irving was good in his limited playing time, and with the return of Edson Alvarez and the signing of Guido Rodriguez, Irving was expected to join a new team on a season long loan in this transfer window. UEFA Europa League Champions Atalanta were interested in signing the 24-year-old midfielder alongside several clubs from all over Europe, but West Ham wanted Irving to stay in the first team this season. According to a report from The Athletic,
"Andy Irving had interest from Celtic, St Pauli and Sturm Graz in the week leading up to deadline day. But Steidten and Lopetegui wanted to keep Irving for squad depth and the 24-year-old midfielder decided to stay."The Athletic
West Ham have several midfielders in their squad such as Edson Alvarez, Guido Rodriguez, Tomas Soucek, Carlos Soler alongside creative playmakers Lucas Paqueta and Mohammed Kudus, thus, Irving will get less playing time this season. The Hammers already have a great squad depth and could have let Irving join a new team on a season long loan to improve his game as a box-to-box midfielder and get more playing time as well.