David Moyes press conference: West Ham boss explains need for a ‘lot more business’ after Maxwel Cornet addition

David Moyes has insisted that West Ham United will not stop in the transfer market after the addition of Maxwel Cornet.

Cornet travelled to London on Thursday night to undergo a medical with West Ham ahead of a transfer from Burnley. He is going to become their fifth permanent signing of the summer after Nayef Aguerd, Alphonse Areola, Flynn Downes and Gianluca Scamacca.

It has therefore already been a busy summer transfer window for West Ham. They are strengthening the spine of their team with Aguerd (when he recovers from injury), Downes and Scamacca.

What’s more, making Areola’s loan move permanent gives them further stability in goal. Cornet will provide quality across the pitch, perhaps most frequently as a left wing-back.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, manager David Moyes has confirmed Cornet’s whereabouts ahead of an announcement of the transfer.

But the 59-year-old has urged West Ham to bring in additional signings, claiming they have “an awful lot more business” to do.

“He’s in the building now so hopefully we can get that concluded,” Moyes said, regarding Cornet. “I couldn’t tell you exactly until everything is done. But he’s here at the moment.”

But as for whether that will be their last deal, Moyes replied: “All I would say is no, we need to do an awful lot more business.

“We lost four players – three players and a goalkeeper – at the end of the season. We were a couple of players short in January, we didn’t bring any players in in January. So we have to fill these voids and hopefully we can do so.

“We want to bring in quality players. We don’t want to just fill it for the sake of filling it. So we are trying to do what we can.

“We’ve got lots of areas to address and the question on Maxwel is probably better suited once we get it all done, once we get it completed, then it will be a lot easier to speak about.”

Where else will David Moyes want to strengthen?

Among the players Moyes lost earlier in the summer were Mark Noble, Andriy Yarmolenko, Ryan Fredericks and David Martin. They have also recently offloaded Arthur Masuaku, although Cornet’s arrival offsets that loss.

Likewise, another exit was Alex Kral after his uninspiring loan spell ended. The addition of Downes means they have replenished one midfield role, but are still lacking a successor to Noble.

Of course, it is almost impossible to replace his legacy. But numerically, Moyes would want one more body in midfield. And it seems they have lost the race for key target Amadou Onana, so they will have to weigh up their options.

Furthermore, replacements might be needed for forward Yarmolenko, right-back Fredericks and backup goalkeeper Martin.

Although West Ham have already replenished their attack with Scamacca, it was a position they were short in before. Hence, finding another attacker could help fill Yarmolenko’s role.

At right-back, Moyes has Vladimir Coufal and Ben Johnson. Perhaps he would appreciate a full-back to compete with them and Aaron Cresswell on the other side, along with Cornet.

Whether they need to replace Martin is another question. They still have Areola, Lukasz Fabianski and Darren Randolph in their goalkeeping ranks anyway.

But Moyes has four competitions to prepare for this season. Therefore, he will want assurances over his squad depth, a factor he is clearly not ignoring.

Cornet, incidentally, will not be available for West Ham’s first game of the season against Man City, even if his arrival is confirmed before. Nor will Aguerd or Scamacca due to a knee injury and a fitness issue respectively.