West Ham owner ‘depressed’ by lack of signings

West Ham co-owner David Sullivan said he has been left feeling “depressed” after facing strong criticism from fans over a lack of spending in the transfer market.

The signing of Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek, who spent the second half of last season on loan at the club, on a permanent deal for a reported £15 million ($19 million) has been West Ham’s only business of the summer.

David Moyes’s men have lost their opening two games of the Premier League season and the sale of Grady Diangana to West Brom prompted captain Mark Noble to tweet that he was “gutted, angry and sad”.

However, Sullivan pointed to the huge sums West Ham have spent in recent years and the coronavirus pandemic, which is expected to see games played behind closed doors for another six months.

“We’ve got limited funds,” Sullivan told Talksport. “We’ve also got the fact we’ll probably get no gate money for the rest of the season and we’ve got to keep the club afloat and pay wages.

“We’ve chased dreams the last two years and bought a pile of players who haven’t impacted the club, and maybe they will over the coming seasons because there are some damned good players.”

Burnley are believed to have rejected two bids for English international centre-back James Tarkowski, with the Clarets holding out for a reported fee of £40 million.

“I cannot say for sure we are going to sign anybody, and as each day passes I get more depressed. There’s no point saying otherwise,” added Sullivan.

“We’ll go a little bit more but we can’t pay double what you value a player at. We haven’t got the money, the club would go bankrupt. These are difficult times.”