West Ham's Nuno Espirito Santo Warns of Lack of Firepower

West Ham boss Nuno Espirito Santo has warned that his squad still lacks firepower, even after smashing the Championship transfer record to land Celtic midfielder Arne Engels for £22m.

The 20-year-old becomes West Ham’s fourth new arrival since relegation from the Premier League, joining Brighton defender Joel Veltman, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Manor Solomon and Keiber Lamadrid, whose loan from Deportivo La Guaira was made permanent after January.

Yet Nuno’s message after a frustrating opening day at Burnley was blunt. A 2-0 lead slipped into a 2-2 draw, and the Portuguese coach made it clear the rebuild is far from complete.

“We need players, especially in the offensive part of the team,” he said after the game. The late collapse only sharpened that point. West Ham carried threat in spells, but could not kill the contest.

Nuno has already experimented, leaning on tactical tweaks to plug gaps higher up the pitch.

“We have young lads, we have options of double full-back, like we did in the last game and in this game, but we need more bodies in the offensive part of the team.”

Engels is expected to change that dynamic. At Celtic he produced 17 goals and 22 assists in 100 appearances, numbers that persuaded West Ham to invest heavily despite their second-tier status.

Nuno clearly sees him as a central pillar of the new project.

“He's a very good player. I think he'll help us a lot in the middle of the park, where we have two young players,” he said, underlining both Engels’ pedigree and the inexperience around him.

The manager also pointed to the looming return of Tomas Soucek as another key piece in his midfield structure.

“We have Tomas too. When he returns, I think we'll have more options and be stronger in the middle of the park.”

Behind the scenes, the pace of recruitment remains intense. Relegation has forced West Ham into a rapid reset, and Nuno made it clear the club hierarchy understands the urgency.

“There's a lot of activity. The club knows the targets and the needs of the team. We're working very hard and trying to get the bodies in as soon as possible.”

One record signing is through the door. The question now is how many more it will take to turn West Ham from relegated side into genuine promotion contenders.