Nunez & Lingard in, £67k-p/w "colossus" axed: West Ham's failed January transfer XI - opinion

Despite the fact that David Moyes identified a number of areas within his West Ham United squad that needed strengthening in the January transfer window, the 58-year-old ultimately failed to bring any fresh faces to the London Stadium prior to Monday evening’s deadline.

Indeed, it was reported that the Scot wanted to sign at least a new left-back, centre-back and centre-forward last month, with the club being linked with a host of different players in all three positions throughout January.

However, despite having 31 days to do business, West Ham appeared to leave the vast majority of their moves until the final day of the market, something that – rather unsurprisingly – saw the Premier League side exit the window in exactly the same condition they entered it.

So, what could West Ham’s starting XI have looked like if Moyes had managed to land his top targets last month? Here’s what we think.

While West Ham were obviously linked with more players than we have included in our failed transfer XI, including Leeds United duo Kalvin Phillips and Raphinha, as well as Atalanta centre-forward Duvan Zapata, we have decided to focus on the players for whom moves seemed to be most likely last month.

At centre-back, should West Ham have coughed up what looked to be an extremely reasonable £15m for Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car, the 25-year-old would have undoubtedly started ahead of the likes of £67k-per-week Issa Diop – who Stuart Pearce dubbed a “colossus” – and Craig Dawson alongside Kurt Zouma in the heart of the Hammers backline.

The second missed signing comes at left-back, with RMC Sport reporting that the Irons did not make a move for the £8.1m-rated Layvin Kurzawa on deadline day as Moyes could not find Arthur Masuaku a move