West Ham’s deadline day deal for striker is off | OneFootball

West Ham are still working hard to bring players into the club but it appears that Graham Potter is going to miss out on landing one of his targets.

Evan Ferguson will join the Hammers after passing his medical, so all is not lost for the East Londoners.

There may even been time for Danny Ings to join Southampton as Potter looks to streamline his squad before the closure of the window on Monday night.

Graham Potter to miss out on Eli Junior Kroupi

One deal that’s almost certainly off, however, is a £35m deal for Lorient’s exciting 18-year-old, Eli Junior Kroupi.

Graham Potter, Head Coach of West Ham United, celebrates victory with his team after the Premier League match against Fulham FC at London Stadium on January 14, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

According to West Ham insider ExWHUEmployee, speaking on The West Ham Way podcast, both the French club and the player now believe it’s in the teenager’s best interests to stay put until at least the summer.

Whilst that stance is unlikely to massively affect what the Irons do in the current window, it’s clearly a knock.

It also doesn’t really give the club too much time to find an alternative either.

For supporters who were arguably hoping for a raft of new signings, they’ll have to be content with, potentially, just Ferguson.

That shouldn’t really come as a surprise to the fans either.

Time for Graham Potter to hone his ideas

After such a busy summer window, the East Londoners need to stay on the right side of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules as a minimum.

The remainder of the season can be used as by Graham Potter as a few months where he can hone his ideas and way of working, and hope to then have a reasonable summer transfer window before showing the West Ham faithful what he and his group of players are capable of.

He clearly can’t perform miracles in the space of a few months, particularly when you consider the bulk of his players were brought in by the former head coach, Julen Lopetegui.