West Ham are close to opening their chequebook for the first time this year as they prepare for a £4m move for Middlesbrough goalkeeper Darren Randolph, the BBC has reported. The journeyman goalkeeper would be returning to the London club having previously played there from 2015 to 2017 when he then moved to Middlesbrough for £5m.
But the return of the former player would highlight a more prominent issue with the club than their earlier goalkeeping issues. For a while now West Ham have acted on impulse in the transfer market, and they are devoid of a clear strategy.
The West Ham board may have a clear idea of where they would like to be, contending for the Premier League top six, but it appears there is no process in place of how they are going to achieve their goal. Randolph’s return would be another indication of this muddled thinking as it begs the question of why the club let go of the goalkeeper in the first place. Furthermore, the Hammers would be left with Manuel Pellegrini signing Roberto Jimenez sitting on the sidelines, with little chance of getting any first-team action having arrived as a backup to Łukasz Fabianski just this summer.
As the managers come and go at the London Stadium, players are left behind who were part of the previous bosses’ plans but can find themselves out of favour all of a sudden. The Spanish stopper is just the latest example, but it is challenging to know which players fit into David Moyes’ plans given that he has not had a summer transfer window to work with during either of his spells at the club.
Yet another indication that the business at the London Stadium is based on gut as opposed to wit is the arrival of Sebastien Haller. Before his 2018/19 season, the Frenchman had not hit double figures throughout a season in any of Europe’s top five leagues. But after one great campaign, he found himself holding a West Ham shirt with a £45m price tag, it is unlikely he would have been a target before helping Eintracht Frankfurt to the Europa League semi-finals.
All in all, the arrival of Randolph would be somewhat sensible, given Roberto’s disastrous performances deputising for Fabianski. But the process of deciding to bring the goalkeeper back is worrying given they ought to be looking for emerging talent to get ahead in the Premier League rather than relying on journeymen to stay afloat in the English top-flight.
