West Ham's Nuno Espirito Santo: Engels Signing Not Enough for Promotion Challenge
West Ham United have smashed the Championship transfer record to land Celtic midfielder Arne Engels for £22m – and Nuno Espirito Santo’s first reaction was simple: it’s not enough.
Engels becomes the club’s fourth new arrival since relegation from the Premier League, yet Nuno walked away from a 2-2 draw at Burnley talking about gaps, not comfort.
From 2-0 up to 2-2 down in mood
West Ham led 2-0 at Turf Moor in their Championship opener, only to be dragged back to a draw. The points slipped, and with them any illusion that this squad is close to complete.
"We need players, especially in the offensive part of the team," Nuno said, the frustration of the collapse still fresh. "We have young lads, we have options of double full-back, like we did in the last game and in this game, but we need more bodies in the offensive part of the team."
The message cut through the noise of a busy summer. Activity, yes. Enough firepower? Not yet.
Record deal for Engels
Engels arrives with serious numbers and a serious price tag. The 20-year-old scored 17 goals and laid on 22 assists in 100 appearances for Celtic, production that convinced West Ham to go to a Championship record fee to secure him.
For Nuno, the signing answers one question in midfield, not all of them.
"He's a very good player. I think he'll help us a lot in the middle of the park, where we have two young players," the head coach said. "We have Tomas [Soucek] too. When he returns, I think we'll have more options and be stronger in the middle of the park."
Engels joins Brighton defender Joel Veltman, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Manor Solomon and Keiber Lamadrid, whose loan from Deportivo La Guaira was turned into a permanent deal in January. Four through the door. None of them an out-and-out centre-forward.
Squad taking shape, attack still thin
Nuno has already experimented, leaning on tactical tweaks to paper over thin areas of the squad. He referenced the "double full-back" approach used in pre-season and again at Burnley, a sign of a coach adjusting on the fly while recruitment continues.
"There’s a lot of activity. The club knows the targets and the needs of the team," he said. "We're working very hard and trying to get the bodies in as soon as possible."
The spine is slowly being rebuilt: Veltman at the back, Engels and, when fit, Soucek in midfield, Solomon adding guile from wide areas, Lamadrid locked in. But Nuno’s repeated emphasis on the "offensive part" of the team tells its own story.
West Ham have made their record move. The question now is whether the board match that statement with the one thing their manager keeps asking for: more goals, and the players to deliver them, before this promotion race truly starts to bite.
