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Mirror
Progressive West Ham have traded up this summer as they show their intent to reach the next level
By Darren lewis
While many have been quick to criticise the Hammers, they have quietly gone about upgrading the club on and off the pitch
It's fair to say that West Ham are trading up this summer.
You may not like the way that they went about replacing Big Sam Allardyce but they were the not the first club - and will be far from the last - to decide they needed an upgrade.
Southampton were vilified when they dumped Nigel Adkins, the man who led them up into the Premier League from the Championship.
In came Mauricio Pochettino to take hold of a outfit seen at the time as relegation fodder and take them to another level.
Chelsea took a bit of stick when they dispensed with the services of Claudio Ranieri. Jose Mourinho quickly silenced their critics.
Tony Pulis did superbly for Stoke but Mark Hughes is building on the foundations laid by the Welshman. And Garry Monk is breaking records at Swansea after taking over from Michael Laudrup.
So why should West Ham not aspire to bigger things by looking up?
Why should they not progress from cast-offs and has-beens to running with the bigger boys?
There is a misconception that the Irons are simply hankering after 'The West Ham Way'. That the fans are hoping against hope for a return to an era long since past.
Actually, they just want to move to the next level. And at this rate it looks pretty much as though they are doing so.
The signing of £14million Dimitri Payet from Marseille is a real statement of intent. Juventus defender Angelo Ogbonna is set to become the commanding figure at the back that they have been looking for.
They have kept left-back Aaron Cresswell, one of the very best in the Premier League, from the clutches of Chelsea and Manchester City . And after landing 23-year-old Pedro Obiang from Sampdoria they now have midfield teeming with steel and craft.
Yohan Cabaye would have improved it further had he not chosen Crystal Palace instead. But Argentine playmaker Manuel Lanzini, on his way from Al Jazira Club in the UAE, could well provide that x-factor.
The Hammers are continuing to look at strikers and are keen to continue using the Europa League to ensure their youngsters are knocking as hard as they can on the door to the first team.
This is a period in the club's history that could prove pivotal.
They don't have a Russian investor or an Arab Sheikh which is even more of a reason why Davids Gold and Sullivan and vice-chairman Karren Brady deserve credit.
Whatever you think about the way that they have acquired the Olympic Stadium, they have made some shrewd moves that are enabling them to think big.
The enhanced new TV deal helps, while it is fair to say that Slaven Bilic is perhaps more able to attract players than Allardyce was.
So now they are doing what fans of every club outside the top six wants - they are having a right go.
Eyes were rolled in France when they initially moved for Payet ("As if he would go there"). Even after the winger signed his move was described in his homeland as "embarrassing for French football".
It is far from that for West Ham. It is a measure of their growing ambition that they are able to land a player of that calibre.
Before closing the deal for Ogbonna the Hammers weighed in for Monaco defender Aymen Abdennour and Dynamo Kiev centre-back Aleksander Dragovic.
The players coming in are not has-beens at the end of their careers. Obiang is 23, Payet is 28 and has just come off the back of a season in which he was the most creative player in the top five European leagues.
Ogbonna is 27, Carl Jenkinson - set to return on loan - is 23. Even with all his miles on the clock Alex Song, poised to come back on a permanent basis pending an assessment on his injury, is still only 27.
There was a time when the Irons would panic if Andy Carroll picked up, as he tends to, any kind of injury. These days they are building a team mixed with youth and experience while at the same time providing a pathway for their rising stars.
Rather than pining for the 'West Ham Way' there has always been a strategy at Upton Park. For that they surely deserve praise, not criticism.
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