West Ham made a boatload of signings in the summer 2024 transfer window, with many of the additions fortifying an attack that stumbled at the end of the 2023/24 season.
So far, though, the most significant additions have been to the back four, as former Wolves center back Max Kilman and ex-Manchester United (and Crystal Palace) right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka have been the two best players on the team thus far,
Wan-Bissaka joined West Ham shortly after the Hammers’ deal for Noussair Mazraoui fell through because the Bayern Munich man wanted to move to a more prestigious club than West Ham.
Mazraoui ended up joining Manchester United instead, which cleared the way for West Ham to sign Wan-Bissaka from the Red Devils, giving a lifeline to a player who had been buried at Old Trafford because of technical limitations.
Already, Wan-Bissaka looks like an upgraded version of the player who starred in the Premier League for Palace as one of the best right backs in England before being forgotten at Man United.
And West Ham couldn’t have signed “AWB” at a better time. Wan-Bissaka’s dynamic, all-around performances at right back as a legitimately elite defender and monstrous progressor stand in juxtaposition to what Vladimir Coufal is doing at right back.
While Coufal has been one of the better right backs in the Premier League over the last few years, the Czech international is now 32, and father time is catching up with him in a very ugly way.
Especially in comparison to Wan-Bissaka, Coufal has never been the most athletic player to begin with, and now that he is really slowing down, he is liable to be roasted into the oblivion by any legitimate starting Premier League winger.
It’s sad to see how far Coufal, a key veteran leader for the Hammers, has fallen, but at least West Ham had the foresight to anticipate his rapid decline and signed a tailor-made replacement.
Wan-Bissaka looks even better than Mazraoui, so, in a way, West Ham can thank the former Ajax standout for rejecting them for a “bigger” club, though Manchester United only finished eighth in the Premier League themselves last season.
There’s every reason to believe Wan-Bissaka’s start to the season is no fluke, because he is in his prime at 26 and, again, looks like the player we expected him to develop into when he was a top young right back for Crystal Palace. Once again, Manchester United have egg on their face.
