The commencement of the 2024/25 Premier League season is just over four weeks away, and West Ham United are working night and day to fortify Julen Lopetegui’s first-team squad.
While transfer news – of which there are plentiful rumours – dominates the Irons discourse right now, Lopetegui has been working hard on the pitch, with the club enjoying a week in Austria and recently drawing 2-2 against Hungarian champions Ferencvaros in a friendly.
There was plenty to admire from a tactical standpoint: high pressing, sharp fitness and solid positional understanding form the basis of the Spaniard’s tactical remit, with Luis Guilherme catching the eye with his electrifying pace.
The 18-year-old winger was signed from Brazilian club Palmeiras for £25.5m this summer and will prove invaluable in adding a dimension to the frontline. Lopetegui appears to be eyeing another fleet-footed winger to complete his attacking repackage.
West Ham transfer news
According to talkSPORT, West Ham are fighting to sign Arsenal winger Reiss Nelson after agreeing a deal for OGC Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo, who appears to be holding out for a move to Juventus.
Technical director Tim Steidten might appear to be prioritising the backline but West Ham are understood to be leading the race to sign Nelson, with Arsenal hoping to collect £25m for his sale.
Why West Ham are pushing to sign Reiss Nelson
Nelson, aged 24, has featured 89 times for Arsenal since graduating from Hale End, scoring eight goals and adding nine assists. He’s also enjoyed loan spells overseas with Feyenoord and Hoffenheim, hitting the mark on both occasions.
Preferentially performing on the right flank, he would make excellent competition for Jarrod Bowen, who was United’s top scorer last season with 20 goals from 44 appearances.
Since returning from his loan spell in Holland at the end of the 2021/22 season, Nelson has started once in the Premier League, and with Mikel Arteta bent toward winning the title, it’s unlikely that the snappy winger is going to see an upswing in opportunity next term, should he remain at the Emirates Stadium.
His pace and skilful dribbling could indeed see him serve as the perfect foil to Bowen, and perhaps even form a deadly partnership with fellow West Ham transfer target Jhon Duran.
Aston Villa’s Duran is one of the Premier League’s most fearsome young talents, scoring five goals across his first full season last year despite only starting five games, hailed as a “nightmare for defenders” by Villa captain John McGinn.
Nelson needs a change of scenery. But with his speed and playmaking, he could be the perfect man to drag defenders and create space for Duran to strike on goal. The Colombian centre-forward, albeit not playing much football, ranked among the top 1% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues last season for goals scored per 90, as per FBref.
While it’s hard to draw accurate conclusions about Nelson’s ability given the sparsity of match action he has been afforded over the past couple of years, he has been called a “joke in training” with an “elite mentality” by one-time teammate Alex Iwobi – this is music to Steidten’s ears no doubt.
He needs to take the shackles off and show England exactly what he’s made of, and while West Ham have a talented team, Nelson has the skillset to finally rise to the fore. Alongside Duran, he could shape a deadly new duo.
