The season’s low point was perhaps the east London humiliation at the hands of Arsenal, but Moyes’s future at the top has been called into question given the worrying eight-game winless streak that dates back to December.

The Scotsman’s pragmatic style of play has created a schism for some time but few could argue against the winning feeling, though that has now been lost in the ether and the club need some respite.

Moyes will be confident that he can turn things around, having crafted a high-quality over a number of years – and with silverware to show for it.

The Hammers appear to have changed their mind on the future of the Scottish manager.

 Declan Rice was sold to Arsenal in a jaw-dropping £105m transfer last summer but the Irons recruited shrewdly and topped their Europa League group in December while holding a place in European contention before the recent malaise seeped in.

Most of the transfer business over these past years has hit the mark – something that certainly hasn’t been the case for much of the club’s recent history – but there have been several misfires, with Danny Ings among the worst of the recent movements.

How much West Ham paid for Danny Ings

West Ham decided to move for Premier League-proven striker Ings midway through the 2022–2023 season in order to add some firepower. The nomadic star from Aston Villa was signed for a fee of £15 million.

After several successful seasons, United had fallen off track and were 18th in the premier league when Ings joined the team. Having scored seven goals in the first half of the season, the former Villan was considered a reliable and fluid presence in the front line.

Danny Ings’ salary at West Ham

More importantly, though, it can be calculated that Ings has drained the team empty, costing little over £7 million per goal when adding his pay to the £15 million transfer fee. This is because he receives a solid salary of £125,000 each week.

According to FBref, Ings barely inspires confidence with his energy and enthusiasm during attacking moments, ranking among the bottom 7% of attackers throughout Europe’s top five leagues for goals scored, the bottom 21% for pass completion, and the bottom 9% for shots taken per 90.

The three-cap England international has made 22 appearances across all competitions this season without scoring a goal, although only getting started six times.

How Gianluca Scamacca compares to Danny Ings

Scamacca was acquired by West Ham from Sassuolo in 2022 for a fee of £35.5 million, following his spectacular success in his own country, when he scored 16 goals in 36 Serie A games in 2021–2022.

It was soon apparent that the 6 foot 4 talisman had not adapted to life in London as analyst Chris Sutton called him out for his “miserable” appearance at West Ham.

Before an injury kept him out for the majority of the second part of the season, he scored eight goals in just 27 games. In August, he returned to Italy after signing a £27 million contract with Atalanta.

Given the success in the Conference League and the fact that the Irons recovered the majority of their investment, it’s possible that this transfer wasn’t the worst in the team’s history, even though Ings has half the goal return after nearly twice as many games played. If he were to be sold, it would probably be for a portion of the £15 million that was spent on him the previous season.

Scamacca, who was clearly suffering from a persistent case of homesickness that was calling him back to Italy, at least continued to project some degree of offensive threat during his time at London Stadium.

However, Ings played 100 games for Southampton and finished with 46 goals and 10 assists. Ings was once signed by Liverpool and showed promise, but his chances of succeeding on Merseyside were destroyed by an anterior cruciate ligament injury. Journalist Joe Prince-Wright once referred to Ings as a “goal machine” because of his deadliness in crucial situations.

Although he is still only 31 years old and possesses a predatory feel in the final third that persuaded Moyes to make a deal more than a year ago, he has not been effective in his time at West Ham, and it seems unlikely that he will ever regain the number one role at the front. He is undoubtedly a player who might be benched come summertime.