There was so much excitement and positivity surrounding West Ham’s summer transfer business.
Over £130m was spent and it appeared not only did new boss improve the squad’s overall strength in depth, but also the starting XI. There wasn’t a single player that was signed which underwhelmed the fanbase.
But following a string of disappointing results and performances at the beginning of the season, many had begun to question some of the business. The likes of Crysencio Summerville and Jean-Clear Todibo took time to be bedded in, Aaron Wan-Bissaka impressed in his first couple of appearances but has since failed to shine as brightly and Niclas Fullkrug has been injured for over a month now.
In short, the starting XI has barely changed from last season and the majority of new players who were in the team were struggling to get up to speed quickly.
But one summer signing who hit the ground running and has been consistently impressive since the first minute of the season is Max Kilman.
The 27-year-old signed from Wolves in a £40m deal at the beginning of July and he is already one of the front runners to be crowned Hammer of the Year at the end of the season.
And his level of performances haven’t gone unnoticed, especially with the hosts and West Ham tactical experts on The West Ham Breakdown podcast, Jack Elderton and Callum Goodall, who were waxing lyrical about the Englishman in this week’s episode.
They said: “I just love him.
“I think he’s played so well. It’s just a guaranteed eight out of 10 every single week. He barely does anything wrong.
“His positioning defensively is just outstanding. He’s always in the right place in the box to get a head to it, to get a foot to it.
“So in terms of those situations where you do end up deep, it’s not like with other line breaking defenders where you think, oh, God, there we go, instant weakness in the defence, that positioning in their ability to dominate duals in the box is going to be a disaster. He’s the opposite of that. He’s outstanding at those elements.”
“Unbelievable” Kilman vs. Ipswich
And it was Kilman’s performance alongside Jean-Clair Todibo in the 4-1 victory over Ipswich Town last weekend that particularly caught they eye, especially towards the end of the game when Ipswich were enjoying more of the ball while West Ham looked to see the game out comfortably.
They continued: “It was in the last 10 minutes, everyone switched off a little bit. The game’s already won. Who needs to really be paying too much attention now?
“Ipswich had quite a lot of the ball towards the end of the game, and they weren’t really creating very much. So the tempo of the game went down. The atmosphere in the stadium dropped a little bit.
“I wasn’t paying attention quite as much. And then I watched the game back. Kilman’s just repeatedly anticipating where the next pass is going to go, jumping in front, winning it back, dribbling past someone and then passing it to Bowen, who’s straight on for a counter attack.
“Who is this guy? He’s unbelievable. He’s been absolutely unbelievable.”
Wolves the real losers in Kilman deal
Immediately after Kilman’s switch to east London was confirmed, some Wolves fans on social media were very vocal in their belief that West Ham had overpaid for the centre-back and that Wolves had essentially got the better of the deal with £40m in the bank.
Since then, Kilman has flourished in claret and blue and Gary O’Neil’s Wolves currently sit bottom of the Premier League table without a win after seven games and with 21 goals conceded.
The guys on the podcast made it very clear what they thought about the deal now, by saying: “I think it’s hilarious that in the summer, a lot of the [Wolves] fanbase were making out as though they’d fleeced us, like, ‘oh, you’ve paid so much for an average centre back, et cetera, et cetera.’
‘And I was listening to 606 the other day and a Wolves fan phoned in and was just saying what a mistake it was to sell Kilman and how they’ve been defensively woeful since he left, which is just funny to see them realise, maybe actually it wasn’t Gary O’Neil that was doing bits for them last season. Maybe it was the fact they had one of the best ball-playing centre-backs in the league.
“And yeah, it looks as though that might be playing out because I think O’Neil might have met his match with the Premier League. It’s not looking good for them. But yeah, I love Kilman.
“I love him. I’m going to feel very smug for as long as we have him.”
