West Ham Chairman David Sullivan went on Talksport radio this morning to speak to Jim White and former Hammer Tony Cottee about the transfer window for West Ham.
Sullivan told White and Cottee
“We have been working very long and very hard on them, eight days ago we had one deal in the bag with Mr Zabaleta which I think is a fantastic signing. We happened to pull three together in a week but these deals take forever. This is the hardest I have ever come across with the demands of the players, the demands of the clubs (and) the valuations”
“We are all holding our mouths open and can’t believe some of the things going on and in the middle of that we are trying to do business.”
“We have had a policy this year up to now of buying players for now, not tomorrow so we made a decision in the summer with the manager to buy players for positions that we needed which we thought could deliver straight away, that are proved in the Premier League, have been here before and at an age where they are not being bought for tomorrow, they are being bought for today. Long term it is not a great strategy but short term it probably is. We might still buy one or young players, one or two investments for the future, re-juggle the pack a little bit more and all the time you are trying to do what is best for the club.”
On the signing of Hernandez Sullivan added:
“I think he is potentially he is best player that has ever come to the club in recent years I would say, he is the best-proven goal scorer we have signed since we have been at the club and he has done it in the Premier League with Man United, he scored a goal every two and a half games for Man United so that’s a pretty good record. He is the most lovely, lovely person everyone who met yesterday said. We were lucky he only had a year to go with his club which allows you to negotiate a deal.We tried to get him two years ago and unfortunately chose the German club ahead of us. we tried very hard then. Again it is a deal that has been going on all summer. People say why aren’t you signing anyone, why aren’t doing this. Well do you sign him for 20 million Euros three weeks ago or 18 million Euros this week”
“We still have to balance the books, we still have £100m of debt, we are trying to buy the best value we can for the club. Whether they turn out good buys only time will tell but we are very very optimistic with the four players we have signed We think all four can make a huge difference”
On Dimi Payet Sullivan said
“I think we knew Dimitri was flawed when we got him or £10 or £12 million pounds, I think we paid ten and a half million pounds which was a fantastic buy but we knew we bought a flawed individual. We knew it was an individual who could well go on strike. He has done it all before and that’s well he never really reached his full potential as a player and why big clubs steered clear of him.”
“However I must say, he was a fantastic servant for the club, gave us 18 wonderful months, particularly the first 12 months. We didn’t want to sell him but we got two and a half times what we paid for him and you have to say whether that was good business. It is not what we wanted but at West Ham we sometimes have to sell, we wouldn’t have sold unless we had to sell him. We had meeting after meeting with him, he wanted out, the manager wanted him out, he didn’t want an unhappy camp and you have to (give) support”
“I would have made him stick it out for six months personally and given him a hard time but if the manager says it is unsettling the whole camp you have to support the manager”
On last season’s signings Sullivan added:
“I like a couple of players we signed last year, I think they will come good for the club, Arthur Masuaku will come good, I think Edimilson Fernandes will come good. They are both players which cost around £5m each. They will turn out to be very good buys for the club but the strikers, we signed two strikers on paper. They were strikers on loan with options to buy as had a had a doubt about them. It is beyond our belief not how badly they both were. Calleri worked his socks off but couldn’t score and Zaza looked like he was totally disinterested”
Listen to the full 11-minute interview below