West Ham’s history in the transfer window is rather chequered, unearthing some gems, but failing dramatically in equal measure. It could be argued that the latter has been more prevalent across the past decade with their exertions across Europe unleashing more funds to spend.
For all of their overspending and inaccurate judgement when it comes to signing talent, as demonstrated with the arrivals of Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca previously, their transfer business this summer was surprisingly impressive.
Acquisitions like James Ward-Prowse and Edson Alvarez were astute and have more than eased the blow of losing Declan Rice, while beating several clubs to the signature of Mohammed Kudus shows that the Hammers mean business in their aspirations for European football.
With that trio demonstrating an exceedingly bright future for West Ham, it hasn’t been the only occasion that the club have hit the jackpot in the recruitment department.
In the summer of 2015, Slaven Bilic worked his magic by prizing Dimitri Payet away from Marseille for £10.7m and the Frenchman would go on to become a club icon.
When Payet arrived at West Ham, he oozed class, quality and the ability to produce the spectacular as some of the greatest ever Premier League goals were conjured up from his wand of a right foot.
While Hammers supporters are excited by what they’re seeing in the present day as Jarrod Bowen, Kudus and Ward-Prowse are leading their charge towards Europe, they will find it difficult to eclipse the number of outrageous moments that Payet came up with in claret and blue.
