Last week, West Ham announced the signing of Spanish midfielder Pablo Fornals for £24million.
It is a deal which has excited many West Ham fans given his pedigree as a 22-year-old playmaker who has already been capped for his country.
The acquisition of Fornals triggered a reaction which resembled last year’s glee at the signing of Felipe Anderson who was also a highly sought after creative player with pedigree and had also been capped internationally for Brazil.
Now, there is no doubting Anderson has been an overwhelming success at the London Stadium after what was a slow start.
But the timing of the Fornals transfer comes off the back of a positive feeling around the club as a result of a strong end to the season.
And after David Gold came out last week and suggested those within the club believe they can push on for a top six finish this season, the former Villarreal man looks to be the first move to try and make that ambitious statement a reality.
The belief among Hammers fans for years now has been that they should be aiming to be the side who tries to bridge the gap between the top six and the rest of the division.
But inconsistency has always troubled the team, while the move from Upton Park brought with it an initial toxicity which fractured relations between the owners and the fans.
Yet now it seems Gold and his co-owner David Sullivan are bowing to the pressure from fans to invest heavily in the club.
A solid £100million was given to Manuel Pellegrini to spend last summer and the signing of Fornals as early as the second week of June in this window is a show of strength and ambition, which has been few and far between over the past decade.
But let’s not get carried away, there is a huge gulf between Manchester United, who finished sixth last season, and the rest of the sides below them – after all West Ham still finished 14 points off Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men last season.
But the gap is undeniably closing and can be typified by reports from the Evening Standard that Man United have made an approach for West Ham defender Issa Diop, who was a stellar part of Pellegrini’s team’s success towards the back end of the campaign.
If Pellegrini can keep this West Ham side together over the summer, Hammers fans may look back at the signing of Fornals in the years to come as a statement of intent – the point where the club finally became serious contenders.
