West Ham United have had a solid summer transfer window under David Moyes, with talents such as Gianluca Scamacca, Nayef Aguerd and Flynn Downes all arriving at the club, and they should make the squad stronger.
They aim to build upon a successful 2021/22 season, and although David Moyes has endured a poor start, the Hammers could click into gear once the new signings begin to gel.
The 59-year-old has stabilised the club and his record in the transfer market is no fluke, although it wasn’t always like this for West Ham, with the east London side having to suffer some marketplace howlers through the years.
One of the biggest blunders came under Manuel Pellegrini when the Irons signed Felipe Anderson for a then club-record fee of £36m from Serie A side Lazio in 2018. The Brazilian was described as a “real coup” by Ryan Baldi upon his arrival in London, but things just didn’t work out for the player.
The right winger scored just 12 goals in 73 appearances for the Hammers during his two-and-a-half-year spell at the club, and what once looked like a promising talent ready to take on the Premier League left with his tail between his legs.
Nine league goals and four assists in his first full season wasn’t a bad return, but Anderson couldn’t maintain the consistency which would have surely endeared him to the West Ham faithful had he improved.
He only scored three more times in a Hammers shirt, meaning that each of his goals cost the club £3m in what was a colossal waste of money. Ben Foster claimed that Anderson could “not cut it” in the Premier League, and judging by the stats and the record fee paid for him, the ex-Watford goalkeeper’s point is justified.
The Brazilian had a loan spell at Porto in the second half of the 2020/21 season before rejoining Lazio for a fee of £4m. This meant that the Irons had lost a staggering £32m on the player, who looked like he could thrive in England following his move from Italy.
Was Anderson a poor West Ham signing?
Pellegrini was sacked by West Ham in December 2019 with the club one place above the relegation zone, 18 months after signing Anderson.
Poor results obviously didn’t help the Chilean’s cause, but splashing out large fees on players such as the Brazilian without receiving much in return was also a big contributing factor in the ex-Man City manager’s demise at the London Stadium.
