Former Rangers and Liverpool manager Graeme Souness does not believe West Ham have improved their squad despite spending £100m in the summer.

The Hammers attracted headlines in the summer with the appointment of former Premier League winning manager Manuel Pellegrini and then through the way splurged in the transfer market.




The east London club splashed out close to £100m to improve the squad that finished 13th in the Premier League under David Moyes but it seems their summer spending is not paying off at the moment.

West Ham have lost their opening four league games and Souness admits the club seem to be in a mess despite all the spending as he feels it is still not clear who called the shots in terms of recruitment at the end of last season.
 


He also believes the transfer market has moved in such a direction £100m is not enough to transform any team and he feels Hammers did not spend on the right players.

Writing in his column for the Times, Souness said: “We don’t know for sure who has the final say on signings.

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“Is it David Sullivan, David Gold and Karren Brady on the board? Is it Manuel Pellegrini, the manager, or Mario Husillos, the new Argentinian director of football? Or perhaps it is a mixture of all those influences.

“Whoever is calling the shots, the summer signings of Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop, Jack Wilshere, Andriy Yarmolenko, Fabian Balbuena, Felipe Anderson, Lucas Perez and Carlos Sanchez haven’t improved the side that finished 13th last season under David Moyes and may actually have made it worse.

"It’s a mess.

“Just because you spend £100m, it doesn’t mean you will make that leap from a team in the dogfight to one sitting comfortably.

"What’s £100m today? Riyad Mahrez cost Manchester City £60m — for a squad player who won’t play every week. Liverpool and Chelsea spent around £70m on goalkeepers but I’m not sure they have improved the overall quality of their squad.

“It’s all right spending £100m, but it’s how you spend it that matters. You look at the team and where it needs to be strengthened.”

West Ham will look to get their first points on the board when they travel to Merseyside today to take on Everton at Goodison Park.