West Ham United will be aiming for European football next season.
talkSPORT pundit Micky Gray has urged West Ham United to start ‘acting like a big club’ as he astonishingly claimed that they need to be more like London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Chelsea.
The Premier League season will conclude this Sunday and Manuel Pellegrini’s side have the chance to finish in the top 10 if they can beat Watford.
The medium to long term target of the East London club will be to try and get into Europe. Inconsistent performances in Pellegrini’s first season in charge has stopped that from happening during this campaign
Speaking to Jim White on TalkSport (07/05/2019 at 12:55 pm), former Sunderland player Gray stated what the Hammers need to do to go to that next level.
“They have got expectations at that club,” Gray told TalkSport. “And their expectations now have pretty much gone through the roof. You look at their new stadium which they didn’t want at the start but they’re in it.
“They have a manager in charge now who can attract the better player. You look at his track record, they have the right man in charge. They have got to keep backing him because 60,000 supporters every other week in this new stadium, they have got to start acting like a big club. Like Tottenham, like Arsenal and like Chelsea.
“They have got the fan base, they just need the club and the players to back it up. And if they do it then they could become, and this is way down the line, one of the biggest clubs around here. Everything is set in place.”
The summer recruitment from the Hammers this season has been largely successful, but they will need to go one step further when the transfer window re-opens again.
The home form at the London Stadium has improved in a dramatic fashion from the previous campaign and Pellegrini and his players will be looking to build on that next term.
West Ham won’t be the only team vying for that European spot next season because the likes of Everton, Leicester, Wolves and potentially Southampton will be targetting that spot.
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