David Moyes tells Sky Sports about his hopes of building on West Ham's Europa Conference League success and the club's efforts to strengthen following the sale of Declan Rice; "The club have made several offers for players. We are out in the market."
Thursday 27 July 2023 12:34, UK
It is only weeks since West Ham clinched Europa Conference League glory in Prague but preparations for the new campaign are well under way. They have already packed in a pre-season tour to Australia. Now, a media day at the club's academy.
"We hugely enjoyed it for the few days we could do," David Moyes tells Sky Sports between photocalls. "But we were back to action pretty quickly, so it was a very short summer this year."
Not that he would change it. That heady, last-minute win over Fiorentina, at the end of a marathon, 57-game season, secured the club's first major trophy in decades and the manager's first ever.
"I'm going to try and build on it and push it forward - and we're going to enjoy it," adds Moyes. "It's the first time we've won a trophy in 40 years here at West Ham.
"There aren't many clubs in this country that get to win European trophies, so we're certainly going to continue talking about it and thinking about it. But meanwhile, we'll also be moving on and getting ready for the new season.
"We have to use it as the fuel to drive us forward, to improve. We've had a good run at it in the last three years. I don't know how many teams have finished in Europe three times in a row.
"I can name a few, obviously. But for West Ham to do that is a great achievement and we'll try and do it again this year. If you look at it, there have been very few defeats in Europe in the last two years. I'm hoping that turns out to be the case in the third year as well."
The prospect of another European adventure is a tantalising one for everyone associated with the club. For now, though, Moyes' focus is to ensure his players are ready for what lies ahead. Their Premier League campaign begins against Bournemouth on August 12.
"Because of the lateness of the final and the international games, we're only just getting them back together now," says Moyes. "We've only had two days as a full group. Apart from that, we've not had much time together."
The players look pleased to be reunited, laughing and joking as they carry out their own media duties on the facility's nearby indoor training pitch. Moyes, meanwhile, cuts a relaxed figure too.
"I think the pre-season, for managers, is quite enjoyable. It's always been the time of the year where you're not quite under the same pressure as you are when the season gets under way.
"It's getting more difficult with the speculation you people put out, but we can't really do much about that."
He utters the last line with a smile but the focus on transfers is unavoidable.
West Ham received a British record £105m fee from Arsenal for their captain, Declan Rice, earlier this month. For all the media speculation, though, they are yet to secure any major additions.
Those efforts are ongoing and there is a hint of the work happening behind the scenes as Moyes pauses for a lengthy chat with sporting director Mark Noble before joining us for this interview.
Noble, another former West Ham captain, is still relatively new to the role having only started in January. The club's new technical director, Tim Steidten, is an even more recent appointment.
"It's new; new people to the club," says Moyes. "I've known Mark for a long time and have a great relationship with him. I'm still getting to know Tim.
"Because of the shortness of the summer and being in Australia, the amount of time we have had together has been limited, but I'm sure we'll get down to work and do what we have to do.
"The club have made several offers for players. We are out in the market. We are quite active. Hopefully some of them will come off in the future."
Southampton's James Ward-Prowse, Chelsea's Conor Gallagher and Manchester United's Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire are among the targets they are pursuing, but the challenge of replacing a player of Rice's calibre is a considerable one.
Is it even possible to do so directly, or is a recalibration required?
Moyes bristles slightly at the question. "You're trying to suggest that you can't replace Declan Rice with one player, or any one similar player, so you're probably right that we need to find a different way."
It remains to be seen what exactly that different way will look like, but it will not solely depend on the players they manage to bring in. Moyes also highlights the quality at his disposal already.
The club spent £179m last summer and, despite some initial struggles, many of those recruits - most notably Lucas Paqueta but also Emerson Palmieri, Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd - improved as the season wore on and played vital roles in their European success.
"To win a European trophy for the first time in 40 years, you have to have a really good squad and good players. Of course, we need to add to it and improve it, so that's what we'll attempt to do.
"But we saw [Paqueta] get better and grow as the season went on, like we did with quite a few players we brought in last year. We didn't have a great start with them, but their performance grew.
"Ultimately, we bought them to have a big enough squad to compete in the Premier League and compete in Europe. It worked out correctly in the end because we won a big trophy with the players we brought in to do that.
The club have made several offers for players. We are out in the market. We are quite active. Hopefully some of them will come off in the future
"I think consistency is a good word for what's needed now, to get them to be more consistent as the season goes on. But I thought towards the end of last season, we started to see that."
Their improvement propelled them to European glory but, after back-to-back top-seven finishes in the previous seasons, they ended up 14th in the Premier League. Moyes, a veteran of the competition, knows the level this season will only increase.
"It continues to improve every season," he says. "We see different managers come and go. Last year, an awful lot of managers came in and lost their jobs. But over the years I've been able to stay around the Premier League for most of my time.
"It's a great league to work in, but also a difficult and very competitive one."
Strength in depth has therefore become more important than ever, particularly with a Europa League campaign on the agenda too. So, as the club continue their attempts to bolster the squad, it helps to be able to call on graduates of their distinguished academy too.
West Ham's U18s won the FA Youth Cup last season and one of those players, striker Divin Mubama, has showcased his considerable potential in pre-season, scoring in their games against Perth Glory, Tottenham and Dagenham and Redbridge having made six senior appearances last term.
Could he be useful to Moyes this season?
"I think he could, yeah," he says. "He's a young centre-forward and it's a very hard role to play, being a young player, for many different reasons. But we like him a lot.
"We hope that we can continue to develop him. We'll get him minutes and get him playing as often as we can. At the minute, he's doing as well as anybody, so why not?
"But again, this is the time of the season where it's a bit easier. The pressure isn't on. The games have got no great meaning to them in pre-season, except you're getting yourself ready and fit."
The hope now is that, even after an usually short summer, West Ham and their trophy-winning manager will be ready to pick up where they left off in Prague when the real tests resume.
