West Ham: Nuno Espirito Santo sends Lucas Paqueta curt farewell as new-look squad assessed | OneFootball

Irons boss feels squad is now more ‘committed’

Nuno Espirito Santo has issued a curt goodbye to Lucas Paqueta, saying he is pleased to have a ‘committed’ squad at his disposal for the Premier League run-in.

Nuno was productive in the January window, making five signings and sanctioning nine first-team exits.

He continued, saying he feels his squad is now more balanced, and, crucially, more committed.

“We brought players that we can see that made sense to us in terms of rebalancing our squad. The players that came in, I think they can help.

Homeward bound: Lucas Paqueta

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“Of course, there were other things going on, but it's a very tricky window to operate in but I think we have a committed squad now and we have to move forward.

“Of, course, it's not always perfect. But the main reason is that I think we've been able to rebalance our squad and become competitive.

"It's more about rebalancing and understanding what we need to the last matches of the season. And I'm totally convinced that we're going to be OK. So I can tell our fans that we are positive, we are working, we are committed, we are aware of the situation and the responsibility that is ours.

“Am I happier with the squad? Yes, yes, yes. Definitely, definitely. We rebalance the squad, we have options and the players are committed, committed. That is more than anything important.”

West Ham confirmed in a club statement that they had accepted a bid for Paqueta with reluctance, and Nuno feels the decision was seen as best for all parties.

“The situation with Lucas, everybody's aware of something that was difficult to do. I think in the end everybody looked for a better solution.

“We have to realise that you can have targets, but those targets are in other clubs. And it's not only what you want, it's what the other clubs do, also. So our fans must understand that the transfer window of January is very difficult to operate.”