West Ham United will need strategic strengthening in the upcoming summer under Graham Potter to solidify their position in the Premier League and improve their competitiveness.
Additionally, securing a consistent goal scorer and improving the team’s overall consistency will be vital to ensure they can challenge for higher league positions and compete effectively in European competitions.
Additionally, securing a consistent goal scorer and improving the team’s overall consistency will be vital to ensure they can challenge for higher league positions and compete effectively in European competitions.
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00:00West Ham's ambitions for the summer are focused on strengthening their squad and adapting
00:08to the evolving demands of the Premier League. As they look ahead, the club aims to build
00:13on their current foundation and address key areas in need of improvement. With the squad's
00:19depth and versatility being tested, West Ham is expected to target quality reinforcements,
00:25particularly in attack and defence, while also seeking to fine-tune tactical aspects.
00:31I spoke to football writer James Jones to explore what West Ham needs to bring in this
00:37summer and how they can adapt for a more successful season ahead.
01:07There are still large question marks over the striker position. We brought in Evan Ferguson
01:26in the winter. He's still really getting up to speed. He's only had three appearances
01:33off the bench, so it's difficult to judge him and what he can do. But we can't go into
01:40next season without at least two strikers in the summer, whether one of those is Evan
01:45Ferguson, whether we make that one permanent or not. We need Jarrah Brown playing out wide
01:50and he can't continue to play through the middle. He's far more effective as a right
01:54winger than he is a striker. He still does well as a striker and he can play there, but
01:59we'd rather put our best players in their best positions. So a striker's got to be a
02:03priority at least one, hopefully two, because Michael Antonio is still injured and he's
02:09coming towards the end of his career. So we can't go into another season having to rely
02:12on him to lead the line. So that's priority number one, I think. I think there will be
02:17a focus on central midfield and centre defence as well. The midfield options are, you've
02:27got Edson Alvarez, who's a relatively consistent performer. James Ward-Prowse has come back
02:32from his loan spell at Nightmare Forest and started straight in and he's doing a good
02:35job. But the general feeling is we need more legs in midfield because the rest of the options,
02:41you've got Thomas Cuchek, who is effective, he's very, very good, but he's not known for
02:46his pace, not known for his legs. And Edson Alvarez, as I've already said, and Guido Rodriguez,
02:51who I don't think is barely played, he's clearly not favoured. So central midfield will be
02:57probably a focus. And at the back, we need more cover. Maverick Parnas has been unconvincing
03:04this season. Taddeo and Kielman are the two first-choice centre-backs, but we've already
03:08seen this season that Grandpa likes to switch to back five in some games. Sometimes in the
03:12middle of games, he likes to go to back five. So we need a little bit more cover because,
03:16again, we've got another player like Aaron Creswell, who's fantastic, he's been playing
03:20really well this season. We can't continue relying on him as a 36-year-old to slot in
03:26as a third centre-back every single week or in the weeks that we need him. There are rumours
03:32that we are going to offer him an extended one-year deal, maybe just to provide numbers
03:35for another year. But we do need another centre-back, ideally. So I think they're the three positions,
03:41almost like just reviewing the spine of a team. The rest of the team kind of speaks
03:46for itself. There's a lot of talent there. For large periods of Lopetegui's very short
03:52time at the club, there were games when it looked like it clicked and it was brilliant.
03:56We're now moving in the right direction, but the majority of the games were very, very
04:01disjointed. The midfield was so unbalanced, the players being pulled out of position and
04:07being found out where we should be in terms of picking up the results and the wins that
04:12we should be picking up on paper, and improving as a team and improving our performances week
04:18on week. I don't think we can expect to see much more between now and the end of the season.
04:24I think he needs his summer now to bring in some of the players that will solidify the
04:28work that he's already done. But I think there's a level of optimism now, not just within the
04:33club but throughout the fan base, that next year we should be there or thereabouts in
04:37terms of where we feel we should be, which is at least in the top 10, if not pushing
04:42for a top eight, top seven finish.