West Ham have been branded ‘motionless’ by a journalist for allegedly stringing Premier League champions Liverpool along in a protracted £55m transfer saga.
The criticism comes amid claims the Hammers have shown a lack of class and ambition in talks with Liverpool, leading to the collapse of what could have been a seriously exciting transfer deal.
West Ham chief David Sullivan has come under fire this summer and now the heat will be on him again after a revelation from a top Daily Mail journalist.
While Liverpool put together one of the most impressive summer transfer window of modern times, Graham Potter’s own rebuild plans have paled into insignificance by comparison.
If Liverpool are the benchmark for the rest of the Premier League then the gap between them and West Ham threatens to grow even bigger based on the transfer activity of both clubs.
West Ham’s internal transfer tussles
Potter and West Ham’s head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay wanted to use Liverpool’s summer splurge to their advantage this summer.
The duo identified Liverpool’s young midfield duo Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton as players they wanted for the Hammers’ midfield overhaul.
Reports emerged that West Ham held talks with Liverpool about a £55m double deal for Elliott and Morton after they helped England win the Under 21 European Championships.
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Since then West Ham have signed 28-year-old Kyle Walker-Peters and injury-prone striker Callum Wilson, who turns 34 next season.
It is also being claimed John Victor, a 29-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper, will be the club’s next signing.
Tyler Morton during PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool FC - UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD8
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
And it comes as it emerges that West Ham have missed out on Morton.
Morton is on his way to cash-strapped Lyon in a £15m deal, meaning the Hammers will have to look elsewhere.
It is being claimed West Ham’s hopes of signing Elliott have faded too.
With the new Premier League season less than two weeks away, Hammers fans are not happy with the situation.
Sullivan slammed by Liverpool journalist over £55m deal
And their mood will not be improved by a revelation from the Mail’s leading Liverpool journalist Dominic King.
‘Motionless’ West Ham chief Sullivan has been slammed by the Liverpool journalist over a £55m deal.
Since sacking technical director Tim Steidten, Sullivan has reprised his role as West Ham’s de facto director of football in charge of doing transfer deals.
Steidten, once linked with Liverpool, has been out of work since January and some West Ham fans have argued it has shown in the lack of deals the club has been able to do.
Tyler Morton and Harvey Elliott embrace during a Liverpool training session
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
‘Motionless’ West Ham shamed by Liverpool reporter
Now Sullivan’s transfer conduct and class has been criticised by King, the Mail’s Merseyside reporter for the last 20 years.
He says Morton signing for Lyon is a “big miss for West Ham”.
And he reveals a deal was there to be done for him and Elliott but the Hammers simply went silent after initial talks over a double deal.
“Tyler Morton will complete his move to Lyon later today, a fantastic opportunity for him at a great club,” King said on X.
“Big miss for West Ham, who sat motionless for two weeks after making initial contact.
“West Ham had indicated they would do a double deal for Morton and Harvey Elliott.”
Pundit Simon Jordan once accused Sullivan and West Ham of ‘phantom bids and faux ambition’.
This kind of revelation from a leading journalist with knowledge of Liverpool’s transfer dealings will only add to that particular theory.
It piles the pressure on the Hammers chief with less than four weeks remaining of the summer transfer window.
Particularly as Morton and Elliott were targets identified by Potter and Macaulay.
West Ham have recently turned their attentions from Elliott to Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey.
And it has not been lost on Hammers fans that Ramsey is a client of agent Will Salthouse, a close friend of Sullivan and his sons, who has been very influential in the club’s recruitment down the years.