As we embark on the start of the 2024/25 Premier League season, West Ham United have grabbed the headlines with their ambitious recruitment- both on and off the pitch.
Having guided the Hammers to Europa Conference League glory in 2023, David Moyes’ tenure in East London finally drew to a close this summer.
Fans appreciated his years of leadership but yearned for a greater level of tactical innovation.
The appointment of Julen Lopetegui as his successor has marked the beginning of a new era for West Ham, with their subsequent transfer business aiming to elevate the overall quality within the squad, matching heightened ambitions of future success on the continental stage.
Lopetegui’s West Ham have already made an enormous splash when it comes to signings this summer, as their transfer spend approaches the £120m mark with plenty of time left in the window for more additions.
It is a testament to the excellent influence of West Ham’s technical director, Tim Steidten, with the German spearheading a thorough analysis and recruitment strategy emphasising a healthy balance between talented youth prospects and impactful players with European pedigree.
Our West Ham recruitment analysis will shed light on some of West Ham’s biggest captures across this summer window, highlighting their unique skill sets and how they may complement Lopetegui’s style of play by delving into the underlying data and statistics.
West Ham Under Julen Lopetegui Tactics
Despite his frosty exit from Wolves at the beginning of the 2023/24 season, Julen Lopetegui’s brief time in the Black Country allowed us to understand how his possession-based tactical approach could translate to the Premier League.
The Spaniard was incredibly successful at Sevilla when it came to continental success in the Europa League, but guiding a relegation-bound Wolves side back to safety demonstrated his qualities in overhauling a squad in an incredibly pressurised situation.
Several key principles can recognise a Lopetegui side, contributing to a ball-dominant approach in his preferred 4-3-3 formation.
His style of play may not be as refreshing as West Ham fans would’ve wanted.
Still, the new-look Hammers will surely have elevated defensive stability and enjoy greater technical prowess as they try to break down their opposition.
In fact, Moyes’ goalscoring statistics in his second spell as West Ham manager exceed that of Lopetegui during his time in Spain, with the Scotsman’s side having scored 1.47 goals per game as opposed to Sevilla’s 1.38.
It is evident that West Ham already addressed such issues when deciding to back Lopetegui in this summer window.
The first signing we will highlight provides an excellent forward profile to break the curse of misfiring forwards at the London Stadium.
Niclas Füllkrug
The arrival of Niclas Füllkrug marked a huge statement of intent for Lopetegui’s West Ham, with the German arriving after an impressive club season with Borussia Dortmund and some impactful cameo appearances for Germany at Euro 2024.
Füllkrug represents the traditional striking profile that West Ham have been crying out for, with the 31-year-old expressing his clinical nature with 0.49 xG per 90 in the Bundesliga last season.
The fee of around £27.5m is certainly not cheap considering the German’s age, but Füllkrug would appear to offer a reliable figure in a number of attacking responsibilities- not just scoring himself.
While spearheading the Borussia Dortmund attack last season, Füllkrug highlighted his creative tendencies and his ability to roam around the final third to provide key chances for his teammates—recording 0.30 assists per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga (95th percentile for strikers).
Of particular interest to Julian Lopetegui would be his aerial dominance in the final third and, most crucially, the opposition’s penalty area—making him a valuable asset for West Ham’s build-up play and chance conversion.
During his time at Sevilla, Lopetegui’s attacking principles involved a commitment to flooding the opposition’s box with crosses, with the Spanish club finishing in the top three in LaLiga for completed crosses for three consecutive seasons from 2019.
After straying away from this during his time at Wolves, the fact that Füllkrug ranked within the 84th percentile for successful aerial duels (3.49 per 90) across Europe’s top five leagues will be music to Lopetegui’s ears.
Transfer rumblings linking West Ham United to Jhon Durán and Samu Omorodion would also suggest that Lopetegui is looking to further bolster his attacking arsenal- with an understudy who can continue his footballing development while making important contributions from the bench.
Crysencio Summerville
West Ham suffered last season from an outright option on the left wing, sometimes sacrificing Paqueta and Kudus’s creative talents through the centre of the pitch by placing them out on the left flank.
Therefore, the signing of Crysencio Summerville in a £25m move from Leeds is one that certainly leaves fans of the Irons incredibly excited for the upcoming campaign, with the Hammers faithful hoping Summerville can replicate his 31-goal contributions for Leeds last season.
The 2023/24 Championship Player of the Year is incredibly versatile in his positioning across the final third, evolving from his initial wide role into a dangerous creative threat who can hurt the opposition in multiple ways.
Summerville’s tendency to drift inside the pitch when utilising his excellent ball-carrying is an aspect that would benefit Lopetegui’s system in the final third, with the Spaniard aiming to threaten the opposition with his wingers coming in to attack through the channels.
His confidence in possession will be invaluable when attempting to break down stern defensive resistance, with West Ham expecting to see much more of the ball in the new Lopetegui system.
The Dutchman’s underlying statistics spoke for themselves last campaign, having achieved 6.10 shot-creating actions per 90, 5.04 progressive carries per 90 and 2.88 key passes per game.
It will be interesting to observe how Summerville’s style can translate to the top-flight, having excelled in the Championship.
West Ham have surprised many by snatching Summerville away from the likes of Liverpool and Brighton, who also appreciated the Dutchman’s profile.
Along with the acquisition of Brazilian youth prospect Luis Guilherme from Palmeiras, West Ham are certainly making important strides to bolster their depth of wingers.
Importantly, they are easing the goalscoring responsibility of Jarrod Bowen, whom they had become all too dependent on last campaign.
Boosting The Backline
The most important aspect of a Lopetegui side would be his defensive structure, so there is no surprise in seeing multiple defensive additions throughout this summer window.
The acquisition of a new centre-back partnership in Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo provides an excellent balance between defensive solidity and ball progression.
Having worked with Kilman at Wolves, Lopetegui will have grown accustomed to his composed nature and ability to carry the ball out of defence- achieving 0.82 progressive carries per 90 under Lopetegui’s tutelage.
His background in futsal has allowed Kilman to harness his ability to function under pressure.
Lopetegui often allows Kilman to invite the opposition press to create space for his teammates to exploit.
Much like Kilman’s arrival in East London, the signing of Jean-Clair Todibo further accentuates Lopetegui’s desire to be a more progressive defensive outfit as we approach the new Premier League season.
The fact that West Ham were able to snatch the Frenchman away from European giants Juventus should bring real optimism to Hammers fans.
Todibo is recognised across Europe as one of the best up-and-coming defensive talents.
A cornerstone in a Nice side which achieved European football last season, Todibo ranked within the 97th percentile for ball recoveries with 7.20 per 90, along with 3.34 tackles and interceptions per match.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s arrival from Manchester United looks to complete Julen Lopetegui’s new-look backline, but is he the profile that West Ham really need?
Getting Wan-Bissaka for £15m represents a smart bit of business, especially when we have been able to assess his defensive qualities during his career in the Premier League.
Wan-Bissaka is renowned for his combative defensive style but also possesses the quickness to be effective with his running within the middle to final thirds of the pitch.
Despite often lacking distribution in the final third, his overlapping and underlapping runs complement Lopetegui’s style.
The Spaniard has benefitted in the past from an energetic full-back pairing that can manipulate the opposition’s defensive structure by drawing players away from the dangerous wingers.
As a collective, West Ham’s defensive acquisitions will allow them to be much more aggressive and high-pressing.
Lopetegui is looking to raise the point of defensive engagement with his West Ham team, ideally operating in a mid-to-high block as they force turnovers.
Guido Rodríguez
One of the more understated pieces of business from West Ham this summer has been the signing of defensive midfielder Guido Rodríguez, joining the Hammers as a free agent having just left Manuel Pellegrini’s Real Betis.
In search of a new challenge, many thought Rodríguez was destined to alleviate Barcelona’s problems in defensive midfield—but once again, West Ham were waiting to pounce.
Rodríguez looks to bolster West Ham’s midfield as either a lone pivot in the 4-3-3 or a multi-functional double pivot alongside a more adept playmaking partner in the 4-2-3-1.
Integral to Lopetegui’s build-up is the defensive midfielder dropping deeper to provide support for the two central defenders, creating a key passing outlet to bounce off when the opposition is pressing high up the pitch- something with Rodríguez also displayed during his time at Betis.
His tendency to drop between the two central defenders will be important when allowing both Emerson and Wan-Bissaka to advance up the pitch to support the wingers or when the likes of Kilman and Todibo look to bypass the opponent’s press with their penetrative runs into midfield.
Whilst his defensive prowess is well documented, Rodríguez will also be an important acquisition when considering how West Ham may look to progress the ball up the pitch and make use of their overloads in the wide areas.
Lopetegui sides are well-drilled in circulating possession within their own defensive third but then comes to the task of working the ball into the final third- with switches of play used to relieve pressure and pick out their dangerous men on the wings.
Sevilla ranked as the team with the most switches of play in La Liga for both the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons, with Wolves also following suit with the fourth-most switches during the Spaniard’s time in England.
This suits Rodríguez to a tee, who may not always be thought of as much of a progressive passer, but completed 1.02 switches per 90 and ranked in the 93rd percentile for LaLiga defensive midfielders last campaign.
It provides another option for West Ham’s distribution, which may have been lost when Declan Rice was lost to Arsenal.
The English midfielder often picks out Jarrod Bowen on the right wing to ignite attacking sequences.
Despite boasting a similar profile to that of Edson Álvarez, the loss of Flynn Downes to Southampton meant that West Ham really needed to add quality to their midfield depth, with Rodríguez’s arrival signifying another element of all-round balance to a side which had been lacking it over the past season.
Conclusion
As the quality within the Premier League continues to grow, many have suggested that West Ham have had the best transfer window of any club in the country when highlighting the quality and ambition attached to their signings.
For West Ham fans, seeing such an influx of players with increased stature and expectations to be challenging among the European football contenders is a welcome sight.
It will be extremely fascinating to observe how Lopetegui tactics begins to morph this talented collective into a high-functioning team with aspirations of repeating his continental success in East London.
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