In recent years, West Ham have been looking to increase their level of recruitment, aiming to improve their squad year upon year which has become even more possible since the big-money sale of Declan Rice.
The England midfielder was sold to Arsenal for a fee of around £105m, allowing the Hammers to invest plenty in the past two years.
In West Ham’s top ten most expensive transfers, four of the ten have been signed since Rice left the club, £123.5m being spent in the 2023/24 campaign and spending a further £123.4m in the 2024/25 season.
Sebastien Haller
£42.7m
Maximilian Kilman
£40.6m
Mohammed Kudus
£36.8m
Lucas Paqueta
£36.7m
Gianluca Scamacca
£33m
Edson Alvarez
£32.5m
Felipe Anderson
£32.5m
Kurt Zouma
£29.9m
Nayef Aguerd
£29.9m
James Ward-Prowse
£29.7m
But away from this list of their top ten most expensive transfers, the Hammers have had some bargains over the years, including one of their best-ever players who ranks 29th in the club’s most expensive transfer fees.
Dimitri Payet's incredible spell at West Ham
West Ham made the signing of Dimitri Payet from Marseille in 2015, with the Frenchman joining the Hammers for a fee of around £10m, which would turn out to be an absolute bargain.
West Ham co-chairman, David Sullivan, labeled Payet a “world-class” player who would be worth triple what they paid had he been in his “prime”. It’s easy to see why.
For the Irons, Payet made 60 appearances for the club, scoring 15 goals and providing 22 assists in 4,981 minutes.
Capable of the magical and the extraordinary, his best moment was the extraordinary free-kick goal against Crystal Palace, a goal which finds itself on repeat to this day.
Unfortunately, Payet decided he wanted to return to France in 2017, heading back to Marseille for a fee of around £25m.
To this day, they arguably still lack that magic man, Jarrod Bowen aside, but they may well have the next Payet brewing at the London Stadium.
West Ham's "future icon" could be the next Payet
Bowen has been incredible since signing for West Ham from Hull, notably scoring the winner in the Conference League final, but he’s not the player in question here, it’s Mohammed Kudus.
Signed from Ajax in the 2023/24 summer transfer window, the 24-year-old forward joined for a fee of around £38m and has been a revelation since.
Indeed, Kudus has made 73 appearances for the club since arriving, scoring 17 goals and providing nine assists in his 5,718 minutes played. He may not have hit the dizzy heights of last term but he’s still a cracking player on his day.
Goals
0.37
0.12
Assists
0.17
0.12
xG
0.23
0.26
xAG
0.14
0.10
Progressive Carries
3.99
3.51
Progressive Passes
2.96
2.77
Shots Total
2.52
2.54
Key Passes
1.14
1.13
Shot-Creating Actions
3.52
3.68
Successful Take-Ons
3.93
3.16
When comparing the underlying metrics between Kudus’s first season at the club and this season (his second season) you can see how similar the metrics are. Despite this year being much tougher for the Hammers and the Ghana international struggling for output, the underlying metrics still look very strong, ranking highly for things like successful take-ons and shot-creating actions.
Described as a “future icon” of Ghanaian football by scout Jacek Kulig, he could also become this at West Ham, following in the steps of another magician in Payet. However, Kudus is already subject to plenty of interest from other clubs, and therefore, his decision to stay or leave could prove vital.
If Kudus decides to stay, he could go down as a legend over time, depending on the uplift of performances under Graham Potter.
However, if he does choose to leave, the fee that would be obtained would be very substantial, and it would be tough for Hammers fans to feel too aggrieved.
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