West Ham's new transfer chief Kyle Macaulay faces busy end to January window

Macaulay has acceptable to enactment successful the frenetic last throes of the January transportation model — but helium and Potter person lived overmuch of their nonrecreational lives successful tandem, and Macaulay knows the drill by now.

Straight into the heavy end, then, with West Ham scouring the marketplace for short-term solutions to their chiseled deficiency of striking options.

Michail Antonio is unavailable each play with injuries sustained successful his car mishap successful December, Jarrod Bowen is backmost soon aft a breached foot, and Niclas Fullkrug suffered a superior hamstring wounded a specified 15 minutes into Potter’s tenure — the straw that broke the camel’s backmost and the crushed West Ham volition beryllium moving truthful hard successful the adjacent 4 days.

That, on with immoderate different transportation business, crosses Macaulay’s table immediately, the erstwhile Stoke and West Brom left-back having present completed his archetypal week moving the phones.

13 years ago, Macaulay wrote to Potter to inquire astir playing possibilities astatine Ostersunds successful Sweden. Macaulay was 26 astatine the time, a semi-professional subordinate juggling his middling shot vocation with completing a grade astatine the University of Stirling.

Potter had nary spaces successful his squad but had been keen to grow his backroom staff. As a show analyst, successful came Macaulay. That hunger to instrumentality to playing ne'er arrived and helium hasn’t looked backmost since.

Following Potter wherever the manager’s burgeoning vocation took him, Macaulay became caput of show investigation astatine Ostersunds, past caput of recruitment astatine Swansea, Brighton, and Chelsea. Alongside the brace then, conscionable arsenic present astatine West Ham, was chap Scot, Billy Reid. He is present the Hammers’ first-team coach.

When Potter was sacked arsenic Chelsea manager successful April 2023, Macaulay remained astatine Stamford Bridge. The Blues requested compensation of £1.5million to merchandise him from his bumper declaration and escaped him up to articulation Potter successful eastbound London conscionable weeks ago.

Macaulay volition beryllium based astatine West Ham’s Rush Green grooming crushed successful Dagenham, but regular overseas question and tons of scouting missions are prerequisites for the job.

Certainly, Macaulay’s way grounds should promote West Ham. At Brighton, helium signed Moises Caicedo from Independiente del Valle for astir £4m. He outgo Chelsea £115m. He masterminded deals to motion Marc Cucurella and Leandro Trossard too, some of whom turned a beauteous nett erstwhile sold to Chelsea and Arsenal respectively.

And an exhaustive scouting web that plentifulness of teams would termination for besides recovered Kaoru Mitoma successful Japan, positive Simon Adingra successful Denmark. Both person shone connected the southbound coast.

“It’s a bully nexus betwixt the manager and the club, successful presumption of recruitment,” Potter said of Macaulay past week.

“The hours and depths of conversations that you person to person wrong recruitment, it’s easier for Kyle than it is for me, due to the fact that I americium connected the transportation and moving with the 20-odd players that we person got here.

“I’m truly blessed with that appointment. It was thing that was ever going to happen; it was conscionable a lawsuit of when. To person idiosyncratic similar Kyle to assistance successful that respect is going to beryllium large for america and large for me.”

Macaulay’s archetypal task? Finding a prolific striker successful the adjacent 4 days who does not flop. Best of luck, Kyle, and invited to West Ham.