West Ham United manager David Moyes has said that the relegation battle that finds his side currently in.
With just four Premier League matches remaining this season, starting with a London Stadium clash against Manchester United on Sunday night, the Hammers find themselves 15th in the table and only clear of the relegation zone by four points.
West Ham have been more used to going for European football than trying to steer clear of the Championship in recent years, further implementing their intentions with over £170million spent on nine new players this season, three of which costing over £30million each in Lucas Paqueta, Nayef Aguerd and Gianluca Scamacca.
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However, West Ham’s hopes to continue to build their squad ahead of the 2023/24 campaign remain on hold as far as recruitment is concerned, with guarantees that West Ham will be in the Premier League on paper yet, even though they have a four-point lead and on paper, the easiest final four fixtures of the current bottom six.
Speaking on it, Moyes said that until safety is assured, moves in the transfer market cannot be pursued too actively, with West Ham yet to know for certain which league, they will be playing in.
"It does. It stops you from getting plans in place as much as you'd like because we've still got to get that win we're talking about that would make sure we're a Premier League club,” said Moyes.
“It holds you back a little bit from going and getting on with things and making the next part of the decisions which you have to do."
One thing Moyes knows is that next season, he does not want a repeat of this challenging campaign, which has seen them pick up just 34 points from as many games so far, having picked up 18 more points and being sat in seventh place this time 12 months ago.
The riches of playing in European football, which West Ham could still do next year in the Europa League if they win this season’s Europa Conference League, makes it lucrative for West Ham, especially using that as a key selling point when trying to sign new players. They have also used it to bloody in fresh young talents, with five academy players making their senior debuts in Europe’s third competition this term.
Long-term, West Ham want to be European regulars, and safety in the Premier League, as well as a European trophy next month, would make West Ham a European club for a third straight season, something they have never done before.
“We're hoping we would never have a season like this again,” added Moyes. “We're hoping we can get back away from where we've been.
“European football, it allows you to blood some of the young boys. Whereas trying to get young boys into the Premier League team at the moment is not an easy thing to do. It's very hard.
“Because every game is worth a lot of money, or to do with relegation, or to do with European football. Europe has helped us give our young players some minutes and chances to get closer to the first team.”
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