Thursday 28 July 2016 22:19, UK
West Ham manager Slaven Bilic is worried his squad is not currently big enough for the rigours of the upcoming Premier League season.
The Hammers have been linked with several strikers this summer, most recently Carlos Bacca of AC Milan, and Bilic is hopeful of welcoming 'one or two new faces' before the end of the transfer window.
"To get those kind of strikers, we as a club, we couldn't fight with the big guns," he said. "So we had to be very early, before them, and/or give more money to the players. And then it is also hard.
"But I said we are not going to buy just for the sake of buying, and that includes strikers as well.
"Also, I told the chairman a couple of days ago that I can understand for some players we are not their number one target, but I told him that I also don't want to buy the players who don't want to come to us."
Manuel Lanzini could miss the start of the season with a knee injury, having been ruled out of the Rio Olympics, where he was due to represent Argentina.
And Bilic suggested the attacking midfielder's possible absence makes the need to get involved in the transfer market more pressing.
"Now we have a different strategy," he said. "We are trying to get one or two players that are really hungry and keen to join us and they are extremely quality players.
"Hopefully we are going to get one or two of them, depending also on Lanzini's situation, which we are going to know only in a few days' time. Still, we don't have a squad big enough to compete, even in the Premier League."
