David Moyes continues long search for his flagship West Ham signing

Moyes has proved adept at getting more from less but the Hammers continue to try and hand him a marquee target in the transfer market

Moyes once again wants to add a marquee signing to his West Ham squad (PA)

They are quite a team, West Ham. Darwin Nunez leads the line in attack with a supply line from the flanks of Raphinha and Luis Diaz. In midfield, Declan Rice has teamed up with Kalvin Phillips and James Ward-Prowse.

He hasn’t, of course, apart from on international duty. Rice is the only one of the stellar six plying his trade in claret and blue, and perhaps their numbers will be reduced to none next year. Each, however, has figured in David Moyes’ thoughts.

And while, obviously, he would not have had the money to sign all, or even most, each is proof of ambition, but also a source of frustration. A theme of Moyes’ reign has been the enduring search for a flagship signing. That four of his targets have been signed by either Liverpool, Barcelona or Manchester City in 2022 may suggest he has set his sights too high, though a manager who took over a club in danger of relegation and has steered them close to a top-four finish and a European final in his two full seasons in charge is entitled to argue he has thrived by setting his sights high. He has forged quite a team, but without his more glamorous targets.

In most cases, Moyes bid for them before more distinguished suitors did and before it became apparent they would not be headed for London’s East End; perhaps before they became too good for West Ham. If it now feels implausible that Nunez could join the Hammers, the idea was not so outlandish in January. If some might claim no great skill is needed to realise each of the five is a high-grade player, Moyes nevertheless expressed an interest before some others. He has long been a fine judge of a footballer, to the extent that, even while sacking him, Manchester United retained an interest in some he identified and two of them, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, went on to become among their better buys since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

Yet Moyes’ spell at Old Trafford is more notable for his inability to deliver a marquee signing in his first summer; mentions of Cesc Fabregas and Gareth Bale have abounded this summer amid Erik ten Hag’s wait for Frenkie de Jong. His biggest buy remains Juan Mata, the January 2014 addition who might have been a better fit for the modern-day, more attacking Moyes than the manager whose teams played in straight lines and straitjackets then.

Moyes has flourished at West Ham by discarding flagship buys, not making more. He rejoined a club with a wretched record in the transfer market, even if the two costliest statements of intent he inherited have since had differing experiences: Felipe Anderson returned to Lazio on the cheap, giving West Ham few reasons to regret the one who got away, but Sebastien Haller blazed a goalscoring trail in the Champions League for Ajax and has become Erling Haaland’s replacement at Borussia Dortmund.

Moyes has instead signed a player only separated from the scorer of the Premier League’s most dramatic goal by a letter, in (defender Nayef) Aguerd. His other business looks typically Moyesian: he has tended to buy well when purchasing goalkeepers and converting Alphonse Areola’s loan into a permanent deal suggests he will prove Lukasz Fabianski’s successor. Few have turned more Football League players into elite Premier League performers – Tim Cahill, Joleon Lescott and Phil Jagielka were among his defining signings at Everton – and the fast-improving Jarrod Bowen proved one of last season’s revelations. Flynn Downes’ move from Swansea suggests he could prove Rice’s long-term replacement.

There is a futuristic element to bids for Lille’s Amadou Onana and Chelsea’s Armando Broja, both 20; neither is the finished article they have targeted in bigger bids but a proposed deal for the Albanian would get West Ham one of the most coveted young strikers in the country as well as someone to belatedly relieve the burden on Michail Antonio. Like Everton before them, West Ham are testament to Moyes’ capacity to improve players, to take those with relatively little or no Premier League experience and turn them into formidable top-eight performers.

Armando Broja is one of those Moyes is chasing (PA)

And yet the most difficult part of the recruitment drive is finding someone who arrives with pedigree, signing a gamechanger, whether literally or figuratively, in midfield or attack. Thus far, Moyes has managed to borrow one, but not buy any, and even Jesse Lingard, after his successful loan in 2020-21, is yet to return on a permanent basis, even when available on a free transfer. Kurt Zouma ranks as the most prestigious purchase to date, but is a centre-back, rather than a match-winner.

The quest for a big-name buy is not simply about prestige or a status symbol. Without one and without Champions League football, it feels harder to persuade Rice to commit his future to the club. It comes amid a backdrop of the battle to be the best of the rest, and to disrupt the top six. West Ham did the latter in 2020-21, finishing ahead of Tottenham and Arsenal. Last season’s seventh place meant they won the 14-team mini-league of the clubs outside the ‘big six’.

But the next step feels the hardest. If Newcastle’s spending power threatens to alter the equation, West Ham may also sense the established powers are using their resources in a way that could enable them to pull further away from Moyes’ men. Arsenal’s Gabriel Jesus, Tottenham’s Richarlison and United’s Christian Eriksen would be perceived as marquee signings had they joined the Hammers. The reality is that, impressive as they have been on the field, Moyes’ West Ham are yet to persuade a player with their options and allure to join. And while Moyes has prospered with his Football League and Czech League all stars, West Ham can see their rivals populated by more expensive and gifted individuals. Some from the side Moyes assembled in his head, but not on the pitch.