David Gold, David Sullivan and Karren Brady appear to have acknowledged their failings in the summer transfer market through West Ham United’s rumoured defence of signing Craig Dawson on loan from Watford.

What’s the word?

According to Irons insider ExWHUemployee, while speaking on the West Ham Way Podcast, the Hammers ownership were reluctant to commit to Dawson long-term this summer as they do not consider the Watford defender to be a first-choice option in David Moyes’ plans.

The east London outfit acquired Dawson following the closure of the international transfer market on a season-long deal, which is rumoured to include an option to buy next summer for around £2million.

West Ham were linked with a myriad of defensive options this summer but saw their efforts fail to result in done deals, with Burnley opposed to accepting bids worth up to £30m for James Tarkowski as the Clarets valued the England international at £50m, while Bayer Leverkusen were approached too late in the market to sell Jonathan Tah and Olympique de Marseille ace Deja Caleta-Car did not wish to leave the Ligue 1 outfit.

Dawson is yet to feature for West Ham since joining the London Stadium natives on loan, but could make his debut against Manchester City on Saturday with the 30-year-old in contention for a place in Moyes’ matchday squad.

If Moyes does include the Hornets loanee, it will likely only be among the substitutes, and come as his first chance to change opinions in east London with ExWHUemployee noting that fan unrest also played a key part in GSB’s reluctance to sanction a long-term deal.

“We ended up signing Craig Dawson, he is a Will Salthouse player as I’ve clarified before,” ExWHUemployee noted. “We were going to sign him on a permanent deal for around £2m. But we were only going to offer him a one or two-year contract and I think he had a three-year contract at Watford.

“And it proved quite hard to get him to sign when he knew he wouldn’t get a contract the same length as the one he had. Also, because there was quite a lot of negativity from the West Ham fans, the club erred on the side of caution and thought: ‘right we’ll get him on loan, he’s probably only going to be a back-up anyway’.”

GSB acknowledged their failings

Having failed in so many attempted swoops this summer, Gold, Sullivan and Brady could easily have opted to award Dawson a contract matching the length of his Watford terms in order to add depth to Moyes’ backline.

However, they appear to have acknowledged their failings in securing a first-choice option and decided best to only acquire Dawson on a temporary deal as the move offers the east London outfit an easy out in 2021 should the Watford loanee fail to establish himself.

The decision also prevented GSB from facing greater fan unrest following the protests seen outside of the London Stadium on the opening day, as they did not commit to keeping a player supporters were opposed to signing but without leaving Moyes weak in defence.

Had Dawson been signed permanently, West Ham may have found themselves in a position next summer where they need to sell the 30-year-old in order to sign the first-choice option they hoped to land this year, as the Watford man would be taking up wages and a squad place he may not deserve – a situation which would surely have angered the Irons faithful.

AND in other news, West Ham risk a Jack Wilshere 2.0 scenario by signing a once-£42.4m-valued outcast backed by a club legend.