West Ham’s ‘terrible’ transfer decision slammed following Newcastle United failed move

Kalvin Phillips’ tough start to life at West Ham continued this weekend after he was substituted at half-time of their 2-2 draw with Burnley on Sunday. The Hammers trailed 2-0 to Vincent Kompany’s side at the break and required a 91st minute equaliser from Danny Ings to grab a point against the team that started the day as the Premier League’s basement side.

Phillips was making just his third Premier League start of the season at the London Stadium and is yet to complete a full 90 minutes in the league this term. However, after seeing David Datro Fofana put the Clarets ahead before Kostas Mavropanos turned the ball into his own net, Phillips was hauled off by David Moyes.

The 28-year-old joined the Hammers with much fanfare back in January after a month-long transfer saga. Newcastle United were heavily-linked with his signature, but were unable to meet Man City’s demands of a loan fee and wages because of the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules.

Speaking about Phillips, Eddie Howe remarked: “We had to step away from that one due to financial reasons. I don’t want to go into too much detail but it was financial-related.”

Losing out on Phillips to West Ham was viewed as a big loss for the Magpies at the time as their midfield resources became very stretched due to injury and suspension issues. However, his form at the London Stadium and the Premier League’s clampdown on PSR breaches mean, in hindsight, that Newcastle United made the correct call in not risking their future and finances on a short-term loan move.

Taking to social media after their draw with Burnley on Sunday night, some angry West Ham fans slammed the club’s decision to sign Phillips in January, with one posting: ‘Indulging in the signing of Phillips was a terrible decision He's obviously a good lad who wants to play football but he's not even half the player he was at Leeds & Alvarez's performance embarrassed him JWP needs to be on the bench too with Paquetá at CAM & Antonio at CF.’

Another wrote: ‘No coincidence that West Ham started winning the midfield battle once Kalvin Phillips was taken off for Alvarez. Appreciate he’s come to West Ham for regular minutes but realistically Phillips shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting eleven. Alvarez is miles ahead of him.’

A third posted: ‘Moyes time is up. The end of the season for him to leave can’t come soon enough. Setting up to not lose against the team at the bottom of the table is a joke. And as for Kalvin Phillips- he must go down as one of the worst/ most expensive loan signing disasters we’ve ever seen’.

West Ham have the second-leg of their Europa League knockout tie against Freiburg to play later this week before they face Aston Villa on Sunday. The international break then takes centre stage after that before they travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United at 12:30pm on Saturday 30 March.