Blame Poor Planning Not David Moyes…

West Ham defender Luizao is understandably frustrated at his lack of first-team chances since moving from Brazil to East London.

And it seems the person who has received the brunt of the criticism is former Hammers gaffer David Moyes, who is accused of “buying ready-made players instead of preparing the younger ones”.

In defence of Moyesie, I doubt very much if Luizao’s transfer from São Paulo was anything to do with the Scotsman. The deal itself has the whiff of what I often call a ‘Wellington Paulista’ type punt—roughly translated, a gamble on an unknown Brazilian by David Sullivan.

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These types of transfers rarely come off—for West Ham at least—and whilst I can understand the central defender’s frustration, it’s not really Moyes’ fault. I’ve seen Luizao play live on two occasions and if I’m honest, both Kaelan Casey and Michael Forbes looked to be the better players.

Perhaps it was a fish out of water situation, and it can’t be easy to move from another continent just to play reserve football. That said, the arrival of Julen Lopetegui didn’t seem to improve the defender’s luck, so it’s not all Moyes’ fault.

For the record, this one isn’t on Tim Steidten either, who wasn’t at West Ham when the then 20-year-old agreed to join. If anything, Luizao is the victim of a scattergun transfer policy and the lack of a club structure that really had no plan for the poor fella.

One can only hope that this type of deal will be long gone with Mark Noble now overseeing the recruitment of younger players who will serve their apprenticeship in the U21s.