Moyes wanted £63m “superstar” in the making but West Ham got Cornet instead

West Ham United have not started the 2024/25 campaign on strong footing, but Julen Lopetegui has inherited a talented squad that has the capacity to carve out a successful campaign.

One win from six Premier League matches has left the Irons lodged in 15th place, but the absence of a clear identity has been more concerning. Compound that with the fact that West Ham have created the fewest big chances in the division, and there’s just cause for concern.

This is pretty concerning when considering that Lucas Paqueta sits at the heart of the team, but then the Brazilian playmaker has been short of his best over the past few months to be sure.

Of course, fans would love to have seen West Ham blitz into a rip-roaring start to a new era, but this is a luxury that cannot be expected as much as desired. What rankles is the lack of coherence and formula. Added impetus is needed, but it won’t come from Maxwel Cornet, that’s for sure.

Why West Ham signed Maxwel Cornet

When Cornet arrived in east London to seal his move to West Ham, he was one of the hottest properties from the lower echelons of the Premier League. Burnley had been treated to pure wonders from this mercurial winger.

The Hammers paid £17.5m to land Cornet in the summer of 2022, and there was plenty of excitement at the time. Indeed, he’d enjoyed quite the campaign with the Clarets, scoring nine times in the top flight across just 21 starting appearances. Pundit Alan Shearer had praised his “dangerous” aura for Sean Dyche’s side.

He was also a proud creator, demonstrating a multi-functionality that made him a real unit for a team seeking to stave off the threat of relegation – they failed, but the Ivory Coast international could hold his head high.

As per FBref, Cornet ranked among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers during the 2021/22 Premier League season for crosses and the top 16% for ball recoveries per 90.

Unfortunately, that all fell flat under David Moyes. Transfer insider Dean Jones remarked that Cornet was “wasting his time” at the club, having scored one goal and added six assists across 37 matches in two years of service, before moving to Southampton on loan this summer, where he has started indifferently.

Why did West Ham sign him though? He’d been brought in to replace Andriy Yarmolenko, while Felipe Anderson had departed for good the year before. West Ham were on the hunt for a top-class new winger, and, after all, they had to find a contingency route after missing out on Luis Diaz.

West Ham missed a trick with Luis Diaz

Diaz, as most will know, has been one of the most in-form players in the Premier League this season, with five goals and an assist from his first six matches for Liverpool, whose win over Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend has shifted them into first place.

The Colombian is a winger of pace and sublime technique, and after an ebb and flowy 2023/24 campaign, scoring only eight top-flight goals from 37 outings, he’s now providing the prolificness that Arne Slot’s side need to challenge Manchester City and Arsenal for the title.

Journalist Jack Collins once said that the 27-year-old was “going to be a superstar” back when he played for Portuguese giants Porto, and despite some hurdles, he’s proving as much on Merseyside. If only West Ham signed him.

Back around the time Liverpool paid Porto an initial fee of £37m for Diaz in January 2022, the Irons had also been sniffing around. The veracity of these claims is strong, straight from the horse’s mouth.

“I spoke to Luis Diaz on the phone, we were quite far down the line to sign him,” Moyes said. “My understanding was that Liverpool planned to come in in the summer, so we thought we’d try and get him in January.”

As his stats from last season show, Diaz might not have been the free-scoring sensation that his skillset suggests is within his locker, but he maintains a high level of athletic output, and contributes across many different aspects of the role.

One that got away

The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast’s One That Got Away series.

His roundedness is something that would have lifted the fortunes of those around him. Bowen has been West Ham’s best forward over the past several years, and he could have formed a wonderful bond with the Liverpool man. Moreover, just imagine the success that Paqueta could have found behind the fleet-footed winger, playing surgical passes through lines for Diaz to latch onto.

It’s no question that West Ham fumbled the bag with this one. Liverpool’s decision to bid for him in January seems to have been pushed forward from summer plans due, partly at least, to Moyes’ interest.

But given that he’s now worth upwards of €75m (£63m), which was the price tag Liverpool slapped on this summer amid interest from Barcelona, it looks like West Ham have missed their opportunity – it would take an extraordinary effort from Tim Steidten to pull such a deal together.

Of course, some might point toward the signing of Kudus one year later as a reason to have held off, but the Ghanaian isn’t only effective on the left flank, and could have been utilised as part of a deadly and electrifying strikeforce.