At the risk of contradicting myself, news that midfield flair player [Douglas Luiz](https://www.claretandhugh.info/definitive-douglas-luiz-and-west-ham-update-report/) is off to a West Ham ‘competitor’ – in this case Nottingham Forest – can’t be a surprise to West Ham fans or management. Forest with a big budget and European football are always going to be a box-office draw compared with fourteenth placed West Ham.
Forest with James McAtee alongside Luiz are going to be an exciting watch this season – and good luck to them. Similarly Everton are splashing the cash as West Ham did last summer, Moyes’ side having invested in ‘West Ham targets’ Kiernan Dewsbury Hall and the hugely expensive Jack Grealish.
But there are two issues here: These players did not want to come to West Ham anyway. More importantly, I suspect players go where their agents tell them (As per Jesse Lingard’s excuse for not signing permanently) and therein lies the deeper problem. West Ham do seem to be at the back of the queue when it comes to the ‘desirability’ issue. Continually upsetting agents tends to come back to bite.
However there is another train of thought that suggests West Ham are ‘aiming too high’ and just fishing in the wrong pond for players out of our league.
**Mads Hermansen** made his feelings about joining West Ham very clear, speaking to [whufc.com:](https://www.whufc.com/news/mads-hermansen-first-interview)
_“I felt a long time ago that West Ham and I could be a good match. I can definitely see myself playing in the way the team wants to, so it felt natural all the way, so West Ham was a pretty easy choice.”_
The young Dane has the world at his feet and yet had no such prima-donna qualms about coming to London stadium. Moyes called it his ‘Moyes MOT’: If players are too up themselves to come to West Ham, would they be good signings anyway?
Manchester United almost disappeared from the Premier League through bad recruitment and it is almost tangible to see Potter trying to reshape West Ham’s overspending, overpaying scattergun approach. But it’ll take more than a season and the club will need to find some way of fixing the midfield for 2025/6 to keep us in the Premier League.
Instead of repeatedly trying to woo players who aren’t interested in joining West Ham, get real and concentrate in bringing in someone _who wants to wear_ the shirt. All the talent in the world is worth nothing if a player doesn’t want to be here. So best of luck, Luiz, McAtee, Grealish…. we knew you didn’t want to come to West Ham. Your loss.