David Moyes admits he would have liked to have signed more players from Premier League clubs in the summer transfer window.
The Hammers were very active in the months leading up to deadline day with eight new signings for their senior squad. Around £160million was spent, with Lucas Paqueta the most expensive arrival at £36.7million (potentially rising to £52.6m in add-ons) from Lyon.
Paqueta was one of four Irons summer signings to make the journey from France to east London. A £7.75m deal with Paris Saint-Germain was agreed to make Alphonse Areola a permanent feature in the squad after a season on loan.
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Thilo Kehrer made the same switch. West Ham paid £10.1m to sign the German from the French Ligue 1 champions and Nayef Aguerd was another addition to the defence after a £30m move from Rennes.
Aside from Areola, only two of West Ham’s signings in the summer had previous Premier League experience before joining the club. Maxwel Cornet, who spent seven seasons in France’s top-tier with Lyon, accumulated 26 Premier League appearances last season with Burnley.
Italian left-back Emerson Palmieri, who coincidentally had a season-long spell with OL last term, played 33 times in four years at Chelsea before his £13m transfer to the Hammers this summer.
Moyes revealed that the market value of Premier League players has become so expensive that clubs like West Ham have had to tap into markets elsewhere. When football.london asked about signing four players from clubs based in France, Moyes admitted: “I’d have liked it to have been the Premier League.
“Prem players were hugely expensive, even a couple we’ve mentioned (Gabriel Jesus and Richarlison). You’re going to buy from another club, be it an overseas player or a player who has played in the Premier League, they seemed more expensive so we tried to get our value from the other countries as well.
“But, ultimately, we want to get a strong British base if we can. It was just the ones that were right at the time were from the French league.”
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