West Ham United boss Manuel Pellegrini wants to bring in some new faces at the London Stadium this summer.
West Ham are expected to invest in their team again at the end of the season, as they have not progressed as well as many hoped this term.
The Hammers have been stuck in mid table for much of the campaign so far.
And Pellegrini has suggested that West Ham’s task this summer will be to identify players before they come on to the radar of top clubs.
“When you are in the biggest clubs and you are fighting for the best players with a lot of money, maybe the work of a sporting director is not so difficult,” he said.
“But in a medium-sized club like this, the identification of talented players before they go to big clubs is fundamental. I believe a good sporting director can save a club a lot of money.
“Right now we are really focused on finishing this season strongly, but after that we will see what we need to do. It depends a lot on the options you have, on which players are able to come here and also on whether or not the club sells players. It’s more of a job for the summer, of course, but we are always talking about these things with Mario.”
Pellegrini’s words suggest that West Ham may well be looking to bring in some unproven talent at the end of the campaign.
West Ham had mixed success with their recruitment last summer, after spending big.
Felipe Anderson, Lukasz Fabianski, Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena have unquestionably been good additions.
However, the likes of Lucas Perez, Ryan Fredericks and Jack Wilshere have found things more difficult.
West Ham are next in action later tonight when they take on Chelsea.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
