West Ham United have made some clangers in the transfer market over the years, and despite streamlining the strategy under David Moyes, there have been some big misses over the past several years.
The London club have, to be fair, enjoyed three successive seasons in European competition and won the Europa Conference League last year, Jarrod Bowen springing through Fiorentina’s high line in the dying embers of the final, latching onto Lucas Paqueta’s threaded pass, to score and send a proud club into rapture.
Both players have been signed under Moyes’ eye and indeed there have been a wealth of impactful additions over recent years, but punctuated within are several unquestionable clangers.
Perhaps the worst of the lot, Kalvin Phillips’ costly loan spell in east London, initially so promising, has devolved into the stuff of nightmares.
Why West Ham signed Kalvin Phillips
This season, West Ham rebounded from a 2022/23 campaign that had seen silverware conquered but domestic results display the true measure of the squad’s standing, and when Declan Rice was sold to Arsenal in a record £105m move, there was heightened pressure to bring in influential players.
But Moyes succeeded and West Ham enjoyed some fine early-season form to cement and sustain a position in and around continental-qualifying contention in the Premier League, the likes of Mohammed Kudus, James-Ward Prowse and Edson Alvarez superb after signing.
Phillips didn’t join the ranks until January, signed on loan from Manchester City after starting just two top-flight fixtures in a season-and-a-half following his £45m transfer from Leeds United, where he had made his name.
While it hadn’t worked out with the champions, the established England international had been described as a “monster” by one-time Crystal Palace star Yannick Bolasie for his feats at Elland Road and, still now, ranks among the top 18% of midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 11% for passes attempted and the top 8% for aerial wins per 90, as per FBref.
How much Kalvin Phillips has cost West Ham
The Guardian, when covering the news, revealed that the Hammers had agreed to cover the entirety of Phillips’ earnings at Manchester City; he earns a pretty penny but his core qualities appeared to have won Moyes over.
But it’s not just financial cost that has affected the Irons, with Phillips embroiled in a protracted run of mistake-filled performances that have only lowered his stock, with commentator and host Tom Rennie branding him a “disgrace.”
Still, the fact that Phillips earns a pay packet of £150k each week at Manchester City and Moyes’ side is covering the scale of it is hardly a depiction of cash well spent, actually marking him as the joint-highest earner at the London Stadium.
When the 5 foot 10 Phillips’ time at West Ham wraps up in June, he will have cost the club over £3m in wages. His salary actually sees him take home three times the earnings of Nayef Aguerd, who has had his detractors in recent times but joined from French club Rennes for £30m in 2022 and is one of the highest-profile stars on the books.
Moreover, given that The Guardian reported that the Premier League champions demanded a £7m loan fee, it can be concluded that the total outlay for Phillips’ services stands at around £10m. That’s after half a year of duty.
It’s an abominable loan signing and while Phillips has some high-level latent ability somewhere within, he simply hasn’t offered a slice of the skill set that once earned him acclaim and he might just be the worst signing of Moyes’ tenure.
