Fan blogger Joe Difford analyses another successful transfer window for the Hammers…
It is officially over. The long, often stressful, sometimes exciting summer transfer window has come to an end and for the second year in a row, Hammers fans are celebrating some truly brilliant business.
Even after our best Premier League season on record, it was clear that we needed to bring in a few faces to strengthen the side and push on as we entered our new home at the London Stadium.
First up was to bring in the impressive Manuel Lanzini on a permanent basis after a stunning first season in claret and blue.
A number of young players have been brought in for the future, including the exciting Toni Martinez, Domingos Quina and Edimilson Fernandes.
Others have been brought in to make a difference straight away, and we smashed our transfer record with the signing of Andre Ayew from Swansea. The attacker has played with Dimitri Payet before at Marseille and is proven in the Premier League, so will hopefully make a huge impact when he returns from injury in a few months.
Despite our midfield being one of the strongest areas of our side last season, Havard Nordtveit has provided competition for the likes of Mark Noble and Cheikhou Kouyate, and has been impressive already this season.
Sofiane Feghouli may go down as one of the best pieces of business in the window across the league, coming in from Valencia on a free transfer and already scoring a brilliant goal against Domzale in the Europa League. Like Ayew, the winger has suffered an early injury setback, but will be fit and raring to go very soon.
Jonathan Calleri, Gokhan Tore and Ashley Fletcher have all come in and given us one of the most threatening attacking lines in the division, soon to be led by Simone Zaza, one of the few players to have already scored at our new home when Juventus visited in pre season.
Arthur Masuaku was brought in due to an injury to Aaron Cresswell, but the way the new left back has started, it might be tough for Cresswell to get back into the side, and competition is never a bad thing in the Premier League.
When you look at how much we have spent this window compared to the quality and quantity of players we have brought in, we must be up there with some of the best in terms of how well the transfer window went. The icing on the cake was the free signing of Alvaro Arbeloa on deadline day, who will do a job on the pitch and be a great role model for the young Sam Byram.
All of the attention will be on these new individuals as they make their debuts in claret and blue, but arguably one of the most significant pieces of business this summer was keeping Dimitri Payet at the club.
When you look at how impressive the Frenchman was in the Euros this summer, it is a sign of how far West Ham United have come that he wants to stay and take us to the next level in the new era for our great football club.
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