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Quality, Not Mediocrity Has to be West Ham's Recruitment Watchword

The priority for the West Ham recruitment team over the next few months is surely very simple. It is to recruit better players than we have already in a number of different positions. Sam Byram will be none to impressed that Pablo Zabaleta looks likely to be our first pre-season recruit, but can anyone really deny that he wouldn’t improve the quality of our first eleven. Hardly. And that’s what it’s all about.

So what other positions do we need to improve on? I’d say the goalkeeping position would be one, although it may not be the first priority. Excellent goalkeepers are hard to come by but if we could sign Begovic, Hart or Butland I’d certainly say they were better than either of our current goalkeepers. It’s good to see Adrian back in form, and he hasn’t really put too much of a foot wrong since his return, but given the choice of him or Begovic, I know which one I would go for. But any of the three keepers I have mentioned would cost relatively big money, so I am not holding my breath on that.

In central defence we certainly need to think about bringing in one top class defender. Jose Fonte has never looked the answer to our defensive problems and paying £8 million for a player his age looks to be verging on madness, given his performances since his arrival in January. Winston Reid continue to be injury prone and James Collins isn’t getting younger. Angelo Ogbonna has played really well but is also prone to injury. Reid has played 30 games, Collins 21 and Ogbonna 19. We have Reece Oxford and Reece Burke coming through and it’s surely time one of them became a key part of the squad. We also have Declan Rice who’s emerged this season. I still think we should be looking to bring in one top quality centre back.

At left back we are well covered with Cresswell and Masuaku, who to me has been a brilliant addition to the squad.

In central midfield we are also well served with Kouyate, Obiang, Noble and Fernandes. I suspect Nordtveit will be sold, but given Josh Cullen’s season at Bradford he is quite capable of stepping up to the plate.

Out wide it is certainly the truth that Feghouli, Snodgrass and Ayew have all been disappointments to one degree or another. Michaeil Antonio is rightly our player of the season and Lanzini has run him close, but again, a top quality wide player ought to be a must. If it were down to me I’d sell Feghouli, Snodgrass and Ayew and invest the money in one world class player.

Up front it all depends on who we sell. It would not surprise me if Carroll were sold to Newcastle and it may be that Sakho demands to go (again), but both their injury records are horrific. Hopefully we can offload Valencia, and Calleri has already gone. Ashley Fletcher hasn’t broken through, despite appearing very bright whenever he has come on. There’s no doubt we have been very short of quality up front and we certainly need one marquee striker to come in. Hopefully that will be Batshuayi, but I wouldn’t bet my mortgage on it.

So, a goalkeeper, a right back, a central defender, a winger and a striker (or two). I reckon we need to spend at least £80 million.

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