Rob Newman has finally started his new role as West Ham's head of recruitment and an exciting claim has emerged from behind-the-scenes at Rush Green...

What's the word?

ExWHUemployee told 'The West Ham Way' podcast this week that the former Manchester City talent-spotter is effectively replacing David Sullivan when it comes to transfers, whilst the 57-year-old is already getting to work around the east London club.

“He has already started watching the academy under 23s and under 18s games, so he’s already started to get involved as such with West Ham before resuming his full-time role with us.

"It will be interesting to see what an impact he has because potentially this summer window was the last time David Sullivan would be the head of recruitment, so to speak, and Rob Newman is very highly rated.

"Apparently he speaks a number of languages quite fluently. [He ]did a very good job at Man City - he is highly rated at that level. In terms of new signings, of course they were going to wait until he was in and make sure he is on board before they start to sign people."

 

An encouraging sign

This latest development from Ex should leave plenty around the London Stadium absolutely buzzing as it seems as if there are exciting times ahead.

Newman was heavily involved in City's recruitment over the years, having first joined them in 2008.

During his time there, he was partly responsible for finding young talent that had the potential of being sold for much more later down the line.

For example, he helped spot the likes of Brahim Diaz, Angelino and Pablo Maffeo, who were signed for a combined £200k. They were all sold for a combined total of £40m, as per The Athletic.

The former Norwich City defender also helped secure Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao back in 2018.

This is something that Moyes wants to make happen at West Ham and Newman's arrival will help the Scotsman do that tenfold.

The Irons have often been too reliant on Sullivan and his 'preferred' agents, such as Will Salthouse who has no fewer than six first-teamers on his books, but this move largely puts a stop to that.

"I want to get us a state-of-the-art recruitment department for the future which we can look to use," Moyes said shortly before last year's January transfer window. "We are undoubtedly behind, I would argue, probably every other club in that area. But it’s something I will fix, it’s something I want to get in place better."

Again, Newman's arrival helps this. And he's already attending the club's youth matches to get involved early and spot where they may need additions or even see who could be the next Declan Rice.

Now that he's through the door, proper preparations for the winter transfer window can begin and after signing players like Kurt Zouma, Said Benrahma and Tomas Soucek in recent windows, it is certainly an encouraging time to be a Hammers fan.

The London Stadium faithful must be buzzing by this latest claim.

AND in other news, West Ham source reveals worrying Rush Green development, it'll leave fans furious...