West Ham have been dealt a humiliating blow after one of Kyle Macaulay’s top transfer targets completed a deadline day move elsewhere under the radar.
The development piles further embarrassment on the Hammers board after a summer transfer window that promised much but ended in a damp squib on deadline day.
The £60m arrival of Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa last week gave West Ham a huge boost.
Graham Potter’s midfield finally got the additions that were sorely needed.
But other key areas of West Ham’s team went neglected despite the prospect of signing a new goalkeeper, another midfielder and a forward heading into Monday’s deadline day.
West Ham did finally offload weak, hapless and wantaway defender Nayef Aguerd, replacing him with the eager and muscle-bound Igor Julio in a straight loan.
West Ham failed to ride wave of positivity on deadline day
There was disappointment the Hammers did not push harder to bring Toulouse star Charlie Cresswell back to his native England.
Injury-permitting, Potter should have more than enough cover in central midfield and – providing the individuals perform as they did at Forest – in defence too.
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It is up front where the real concern is, though.
Potter and his trusted head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay worked long and hard compiling a list of targets for each position alongside majority owner and de facto director of football David Sullivan.
There were claims Potter told the Hammers hierarchy he did not want an expensive new forward, preferring to spend the bulk of his budget on midfield.
Graham Potter and Mateus Fernandes after Nottingham Forest v West Ham United - Premier League
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
There was much controversy over the signing of Callum Wilson with the majority of fans feeling he was forced on Potter by the Hammers board.
West Ham’s owners insist ‘Potter signed all the players’.
The head coach himself has also intimated he did want Wilson in various press conferences and interviews.
Wilson has a long history of injuries and turns 34 this season while Niclas Fullkrug, West Ham’s only other senior striker, is turning 33 and is also prone to long spells out over his career.
Fullkrug has simply not looked up to the levels required in the Premier League since he arrived at the club last summer.
Wilson has actually impressed, scoring a superb striker’s goal in the 3-0 win at the City Ground.
West Ham embarrassed by top Macaulay target’s shocking move
But West Ham needed to sign a pacy, mobile and younger forward if they were serious about having a successful season.
Injury-prone Nigerian striker Victor Boniface was linked but ended up moving to Werder Bremen on loan.
However, it is another move that has gone almost completely under the radar which is the biggest concern.
Because a top Macaulay target made a deadline day move that embarrasses West Ham.
The Hammers have one of the oldest and most immobile striker pairings in Premier League history in Wilson and Fullkrug.
It will only take an injury or two, which have been par for the course for both players over their career, to leave Potter with no senior striker.
Metz striker Idrissa Gueye scores during France v Senegal - Round 16: FIFA U-17 World Cup
Photo by Alex Caparros – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
West Ham board’s Gueye snub was not forward-thinking
That’s why Macaulay was very keen to bring in dynamic young Metz powerhouse striker Idrissa Gueye.
A report from the Senegal star’s homeland over the summer claimed West Ham were closing on a bargain £13.5m deal for Gueye.
It was reported that a deal was “imminent” for Gueye – who had been repeatedly personally scouted by Macaulay, according to reports.
A recent report in the lead up to the close of the window stated 18-year-old Gueye, who has been compared to Sadio Mane, had already ‘agreed personal terms’ in the background over a move to the London Stadium.
Things went quiet on West Ham’s move for Gueye as focus shifted to Fernandes and Magassa as the clear shortcomings of the midfield were brutally exposed in the dismal start to the campaign.
It may have escaped the attention of Hammers fans given the focus was on other names on deadline day, but Gueye was signed by Serie A side Udinese instead.
Udinese get Macaulay target Gueye on the cheap
Not only does that prove West Ham could easily have signed the pacy, powerful young talent.
Details of the deal make it almost incomprehensible that the Hammers board did not back Macaulay’s judgement.
Because it has been revealed by Udinese that they didn’t even have to shell out a big fee – or any at all just yet as they snared Gueye on loan with an obligation to buy – set at the bargain £13.5m West Ham were said to have been quoted.
So the Hammers could have got Macaulay’s man for next to nothing in the knowledge they didn’t have to pay anything until next summer. And they still didn’t push ahead on the deal.
Bringing in a top young striker talent like Gueye would have excited Hammers fans and maintained the feel-good factor from the arrivals of Fernandes, Magassa and Igor along with the rejuvenating win at Forest.
To rub salt in a gaping wound, Udinese’s description of Gueye will have Macaulay and West Ham fans livid.
“He is a fast, mobile forward with an excellent physical build who has already shown what he can do while playing for Metz in France,” Udinese state.
Hammers fans will undoubtedly keep one eye on how Gueye does in Serie A and with Senegal.
West Ham’s board will be kicking themselves if he proves a success story at that price.