West Ham United’s busy transfer window came to an abrupt halt on Thursday evening when deadline day saw the summer window end at 11pm.
For David Moyes’ side, it was a busy window, with eight senior acquisitions, around £160million spent, and their final signing being the marquee acquisition of Lucas Paqueta from Lyon that could rise to a club-record fee of over £50million after add-ons.
Although nothing went through either in or out of the club during Thursday’s transfer deadline day, barring Goncalo Cardoso's move to Maritimo, on Thursday morning, it had geared up to be a potentially busy day for the club.
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Going into deadline day, it was expected that centre-back Craig Dawson would leave the club in a return to the West Midlands. While the Hammers did not want him to leave, they were open to letting him go if they could get a deadline day replacement for the centre-back, who was named in the Europa League Team of the Season last term.
On Wednesday night, Moyes confirmed that West Ham had received an offer for Dawson, although he did not confirm who from. It had been heavily reported that Dawson had been in talks with Wolverhampton Wanderers over a move on deadline day, although the Irons pulled the plug on that.
West Ham allowing Dawson to leave rested heavily on being able to sign a replacement. There was interest in signing Duje Caleta-Car from Marseille, although the Croatian instead opted for a move to Southampton. They also hoped to sign Southampton centre-back Jan Bednarek on loan, although the Polish international instead opted to join Aston Villa.
With West Ham unable to get a move over the line for either, they opted to keep Dawson, with a need for him in the squad due to injury issues they have had at the back so far this season.
Speaking of Wolves, Villa, West Ham, and a deadline day saga, the Hammers had expressed an interest in signing Belgian international midfielder Leander Dendoncker from Wolves. Instead, Dendoncker made the short trip across the West Midlands to join Villa.
It also emerged on deadline day that there was a potential Premier League exit for young right-back Harrison Ashby, with Newcastle United keen on the 20-year-old as an option to replace the injured Emil Krafth. While reports emerged of both a £2m bid for him and the opportunity for a potential loan move, the Hammers were keen to keep Ashby and the defender remains at the London Stadium.
West Ham also submitted a bid of £6.9m for versatile full-back Ola Aina from Serie A side Torino. The Nigerian international, previously of Chelsea, Hull City, and Fulham, attracted interest from the Hammers, but the Italian side rejected a bid for him and Aina featured for Torino in their 3-1 defeat to Atalanta on deadline day, a game where Hammers loanee Nikola Vlasic scored for Torino.
With hopes of signing Aina, Caleta-Car, and Bednarek all fading, the Hammers opted not to allow either Dawson or Ashby to depart, with both now staying at the club until at least January, when the window re-opens.
Deadline day proved to be a fuss over a whole lot of nothing and while it has been a good window on the whole for West Ham, clearly, they wanted more to get done on deadline day.
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