Where West Ham United is Going in Summer Transfer Window 2010?

West Ham United has made a number of audacious moves over the last one month in the summer transfer market by revealing their interest to sign a number of star players like Thierry Henry, Juan Román Riquelme and more recently Brazilian youngster Neymar from Santos. These attempts have come when the club is under £110 million debt.

Last season, West Ham United finished at the 17^th place, the last place to survive in the Premier League. More importantly, they conceded 66 goals, third highest among the teams survived in the Premier League last season. It seems they have serious problems in their defense and they should be more concerned about their back line in the summer transfer market.

On the other hand, they scored 47 goals and only 9 teams including the top 7 scored more goals than West Ham. So, it looks West Ham has no reason to give priority to strengthening its forward line up ahead of the next season.

However, the reality is that West Ham has now been tracking a number of high profile attacking players. Henry seems to have already decided to move to MLS, but there is every possibility Hammers could bring in Riquelme and Santos striker Neymar.

Riquelme is currently a free agent after his contract with Boca Juniors expired recently. So, it seems to be alluring for West Ham to bring in someone like Riquelme in a free transfer, but the fact is that the former Argentina international would not come at the cost of nothing. He would definitely seek to get a fair share of the advantage brought by his ‘free agent’ status. Moreover, West Ham must pay him a salary that could well above its standard.

For Neymar, an 18-year-old highly rated Santos prodigy, West Ham has reportedly made a £16million bid, a way above from the club’s £7.5m record transfer fee that they spent for Craig Bellamy in 2007.

Moreover, West Ham’s only signing in the summer transfer window so far is the 28-year-old German midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger who has joined the Hammers on a free transfer from Lazio. The club has released Mexican striker Guillermo Franco recently, while striker Mido and Ilan returned to their parent clubs after the expiration of their loan deals.

Now, it seems that West Ham is just concerned about its midfield and forward line up, even though defense should have to been the top priority in the transfer market.

The more important thing is that West Ham must not act like Liverpool, Manchester Untied and Portsmouth. All these three clubs are under huge financial debt mainly because of their reckless expenditure in the market to make big money signings.

West Ham has £110 million debt at the moment and they just narrowly survived in the Premier League last season. So, it would be a big challenge for the newly appointed manager Avram Grant to keep the club at the Premier League next season without spending much in the market.

New owners David Sullivan and David Gold should also follow a sustainable strategy like that of Arsenal in the years to come. Otherwise, West Ham could suffer the same fate of Portsmouth.