This summer, West Ham United managed to do what many consider to be an impossible task: Replace Declan Rice — their best and most pivotal player — after his blockbuster £100 million move to Arsenal.
The hole Rice leaves in West Ham’s team goes beyond playing ability. He was the club captain, the heartbeat in midfield, the emotional core and the ultimate big-game player. Almost everyone that took to the pitch alongside him seemed to find a new level in their game.
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Even with £100m to spend, how do you replace all that?
Fortunately for West Ham, there were examples from history to learn from. Rice is not the first key player to make a transfer and the Hammers aren’t the first club to have to deal its repercussions — indeed, they were able to look back at two from the Premier League in the past 10 years to assess the strategy of how to do it best. Who did they look to, and what did they learn?
In summer 2013, Tottenham let winger Gareth Bale join Real Madrid for a world-record fee of £85m. It eclipsed the £80m deal that took Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United to the Santiago Bernabeu in 2009 and brought the two together, creating one of the most devastating attacking partnerships the game has ever seen.
While Madrid fans salivated, their Spurs counterparts were left wondering how the club could replace Bale’s production — 21 Premier League goals in 2012-13 — and his decisive energy that would frequently see him take charge of a game on his own.
Spurs’ approach was to sign seven players in varying positions for a total of £109m, in an attempt to upgrade almost the entire team. Striker Roberto Soldado (£26m) was signed to spearhead a new-look attack; forwards Erik Lamela (£30m), Christian Eriksen (£11.5m) and Nacer Chadli (£7m) upped the creativity behind him; Paulinho (£17m) and Étienne Capoue (£9m) beefed up central midfield; Vlad Chiricheș (£8.5m) joined the defence.
With seven players from six different countries, it was a lot of change in a very short space of time. Not only did manager André Villas-Boas have to rewire the team so it no longer looked to Bale at every opportunity, but he had to figure out how to bed in a host of new faces. Of those seven, Eriksen was a smash hit, Lamela gained cult-hero status but did not truly fill the void and Chadli was solid, while Capoue only emerged as an exceptional player later on in his career when playing for Watford and Villarreal. But Soldado, Paulinho and Chiricheș were soon moved on.
In principle, using the money from Bale’s transfer to upgrade more than one position in the team was a sound plan, but it created more uncertainty and unfamiliarity within the ranks. The midfield was slow to recalibrate, creating very little up front for Soldado, whose confidence waned as Spurs scored just nine goals in their first 10 Premier League fixtures. With the Bale-sized hole on the right wing looking larger by the week, Villas-Boas was sacked in December.
Ten years on, Tottenham lost another huge player in striker Harry Kane, who moved to Bayern Munich this summer for £86.4m. And although the club spent £212m on eight players — including creative midfielder James Maddison (£40m) and rapid forward Brennan Johnson (£45m) — and no top-class central striker as a direct replacement, it was offset by a completely new style thanks to newly appointed manager Ange Postecoglu.
Postecoglu’s arrival mitigated the Kane loss significantly, as the Australian boss’ ideal striker does not drop in and link play like England‘s all-time top scorer does. Son Heung-min, Richarlison and Johnson are happy to stay on the last line and provide the final touch, which is what Postecoglu asks of his No. 9. It has worked out well so far, with three wins from four games and a noticeable improvement in attacking freedom.
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The first is qualitative: To replace an elite player like Rice, you need to sign players of quality in response. Álvarez and Kudus are tried-and-tested in the Champions League, while Ward-Prowse is a hardened Premier League performer with a specific skill on set pieces that betters almost everyone on the planet.
Back in 2013, Spurs likely thought they’d nailed this brief, as Soldado, Lamela, Paulinho and the rest were big names, but the sheer number of recruits made adapting quickly extremely difficult. In 2021, Villa banked on Buendía taking a massive step up from the Championship, which he struggled with, while Bailey was too injured to show much in the way of quality.
The second aspect is tactical: The players must be good, but they must also suit the manager’s style, allowing them to bed in with more ease. This is where the Spurs of 2023 have shone and, likewise, West Ham boss David Moyes leans on Álvarez’s physicality, Ward-Prowse’s workrate and free-kicks, which can unlock the height and strength of his teams, while Kudus provides on-the-ball sparkle with some expert ball-winning too.
Moyes hasn’t had to adapt his style and shape to integrate Ward-Prowse or Álvarez whatsoever. The West Ham of 2023-24 has looked a lot like the West Ham of 2022-23, only with an enhanced set-piece threat. This is where Villa fell down massively, as signing Ings forced a change in shape and altered Watkins’ role, creating a ripple effect which destabilised the entire team.
The early signs for West Ham are incredibly positive. They temporarily rose to the top of the Premier League on Friday night as victory over Luton Town made it 10 points from 12 games. Ward-Prowse already has two assists from set pieces and four goal involvements, while Álvarez has looked solid in his first two starts. Kudus signed later but his progression may spell bad news for Tomáš Souček, or even Saïd Benrahma on the left flank, as the Ghana international can play any number of roles in midfield.
The Hammers do not look like a team who had their midfield core cut out over the summer. Replacing a key player will never be an easy task, but it looks like Moyes’ men may have provided a blueprint for others to follow in the future.
