We were victims of our own success

  • by Staff Writer
  • Thursday, 2nd September 2021

First team coach Stuart Pearce has revealed how David Moyes was pleased to make a trio of signings in the last few days before the transfer deadline - even though it proved to be a far more difficult proposition than in previous windows.

Kurt Zouma, Nikola Vlasic and Alex Krul all completed moves to east London in the final week of the window as Moyes finally managed to get some big signings completed, having been frustrated beforehand.


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And Pearce confirmed that there were no 'Sully Specials' - ie signings sourced by the club's majority shareholder - and that each and every player signed had been thoroughly scouted and vetted before being propositioned.

However he admitted the process had been made that much more difficult by the need to sign elite players who can challenge the current starting XI regulars.

“It’s not been an easy window," Pearce told TalkSport on Thursday. "David [Moyes] has worked really, really hard at trying to get the right players in - and a little bit of it is that we’re victims of our own semi-success.

"The standard of players has to be good enough that we see them for our first team. We don’t want to sign squad players so it’s taken a while to get a few over the line.

“We’re pleased with the players we’ve brought in, four players including Areola. [They're] all of the right age who have got improvement in front of them, so we just hope they’re going to give the squad a lift.”

Meanwhile Pearce confirmed that despite the previous links to players such Nikola Milenkovic and Sven Botman, French international Zouma was the manager's key target.

“He's a player we have tracked for some time and we have taken great care and diligence to make the transfer happen," he confirmed. "He was always our first choice and I am very happy that he is now our player.


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“Kurt will join a squad full of players who are hungry and ambitious. He will provide competition to our squad. He is a strong, powerful player with great experience in the Premier League while he is also at a good age for a centre back.

“He has enjoyed great success at Chelsea and I can see that he is determined to continue being successful here.”

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