West Ham United

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Nuno Espirito Santo is confident Joel Piroe can make a major impact for West Ham following the striker's arrival on a season-long loan from Leeds.

Piroe, 27, is available to make his debut in Saturday's London derby against Charlton.

"He's a different profile from the strikers we have," Hammers boss Nuno told BBC Radio London.

"He's a very good player - a talented player with experience in the league - and we are positive that he can help us.

"We are positive about all our players, but definitely Joel has a huge contribution (to make)."

Piroe has significant Championship experience, first with Swansea City before a move to Leeds, where he was the club's top scorer in the 2024-25 season, helping them win the title.

At Leeds he played alongside another recent West Ham signing, Manor Solomon, who had a spell on loan at the Yorkshire club.

Nuno, who has been keen to overhaul his side's attacking options this summer, hopes his new arrivals' experience of playing together gives them a head start.

"They were previously at Leeds, so there is a starting point already made," he said.

"Things are improving, clearly. We are happy with the players who have joined."

West Ham United are keen on Sunderland winger Jocelin Ta Bi. The 21-year-old Ivorian only joined the Black Cats from Maccabi Netanya in January but has made just two appearances so far. (Sebastien Denis - footmercato), external

Read more of Thursday's EFL gossip here.

This is a first home game in the Championship for West Ham United since August 2011 when they lost 1-0 to Cardiff City.

Charlton head across the capital on the back of an opening-day 2-1 victory over Derby County.

• This will be the first league meeting between West Ham United and Charlton Athletic since February 2007 in the Premier League, with the Addicks recording a 4-0 home win.

• Charlton Athletic have won four of their past six league games against West Ham (D1 L1), though their only defeat came in their last away match against the Hammers – a 3-1 defeat in August 2006.

• West Ham United are winless in each of their past nine London derbies at home in the league (D1 L8), losing all six last season – they are both their worst ever such runs in the Football League.

• Last season, Charlton remained unbeaten across their three away games against sides who had been relegated from the Premier League the season prior (W2 D1), conceding just one goal in the process.

• West Ham have lost their home opener in six of the past eight seasons (W2), conceding 2.5 goals per match across that time.

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham United striker Niclas Fullkrug has moved to Werder Bremen on a season-long loan.

The 33-year-old, who joined the Hammers for £27m from Borussia Dortmund in August 2024, scored three goals in 11 Premier League starts but spent the second half of last season on loan at AC Milan.

Fullkrug, a German international, returns to Werder for a third spell having also started his career with the Bundesliga club.

West Ham drew 2-2 at Burnley in their opening Championship game of the season on Sunday and host Charlton Athletic on Saturday, 22 August (15:00 BST).

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham United let slip a 2-0 lead as they drew 2-2 at Burnley on their return to the Champoinship on Sunday.

They conceded the equaliser in the 92nd minute, having led through goals from Max Kilman and Manor Solomon.

Thank you to all the Hammers fans who sent us their views on the result and performance at Turf Moor - here is a selection of their thoughts:

Roger - Same old, same old! This should have been in the bag with 15 minutes to go. Poor substitutions and there you go. Underwhelming.

William - West Ham looked wide open to the counter attack and if we don't solve this weakness there will no promotion. When we took off attackers we sat back and gave Burnley the advantage.

Martin - We looked like the side that got relegated. Nothing has changed for us. A lot of changes are needed - a new centre back is desperately required I would say or it will be a long season with no outcome.

John - Nuno has obviously not learned anything from last season - 2-0 up and he tries as usual to defend. Doesn't he realise that we cannot defend? If this is what we have to look forward to this season then it's going to be a long, long, long season.

Rod - We played a typical Nuno game against Burnley. We got relegated playing this brand of football, why can't Nuno see that sitting back inviting pressure does not work? Favs to win this league? Really?

Image source, Getty Images

Kai - We were poor in the second half, and I feel sorry for Scarles as he had a really good game up until he gave away the penalty. We have got to stop trying to defend leads, and just go and put teams away. Fair play to Burnley for coming back but it's going to be a long season.

Mark - Same old West Ham, same old issues. Dropping too deep when trying to close out a game but we don't have the players capable of defending a lead. Poor substitutions and poor game management. We've learnt nothing since last season. Every other team will try and raise their game against us and we have to 'man up' .

John C - Pathetic game mismanagement by Nuno who continues where he left off last season. Owners must start a replacement search now! Soon it will be too late. He does not have English Football acumen.

Hazel - West Ham were great in the first half but appeared to lose their way in the latter stages of the second half. They failed to keep the pressure on Burnley by retreating back into their own half.

Graham - Same old shaky defence. There won't be many clean sheets while Kilman is there. Let's face the fact that £40m was a huge mistake, write it off and move on. Feel sorry for him obviously but we will always need to score at least three goals to win a game while he is there.

West Ham's deal to sign Republic of Ireland striker Troy Parrott, 24, from AZ Alkmaar is all but off with the Hammers now contemplating a move for Leeds United's Suriname forward Joel Piroe, 27. (Voetbal International - in Dutch), external

For more EFL transfer news, read Monday's full gossip column here.

Image source, Shutterstock

West Ham United boss Nuno Espirito Santo says the club needs to further bolster their attacking threat despite bringing in Celtic midfielder Arne Engels from for a Championship record fee of £22m.

He is the fourth new signing since the club's relegation from the Premier League.

Engels' arrival follows Brighton defender Joel Veltman, Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Manor Solomon and the permanent signing of Keiber Lamadrid after his loan move from Deportivo La Guaira in January.

"We need players, especially in the offensive part of the team," Nuno said after his side were pegged back from 2-0 up to draw 2-2 in their Championship opener at Burnley.

"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."

Nuno says he is excited by the potential of Engels, who scored 17 goals and provided 22 assists in 100 Celtic appearances.

"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.

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

He added: "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."

West Ham manager Nuno Espirito Santo reacts after the Hammers let a two-goal slip against Burnley in the final seven minutes.

Nuno spoke to BBC Radio London after the game and for a written selection of his quotes click here.

Holly Turbutt
Fan writer

Image source, Getty Images

As the Championship season kicks off, all eyes are on West Ham as we wait to see whether we can live up to expectations.

For West Ham, the ambition is clear. We have one season to get back into the Premier League, otherwise we risk losing our best players and dropping into the depths of the Championship.

We're fortunate to have convinced quite a few of our key players to remain for one more season in a bid to gain promotion.

But with this positive news, there are high expectations around how we will perform.

I'm sure I speak on behalf of a lot of West Ham fans when I say I don't have as much confidence in ourselves as a lot of the media does.

We've seen that it doesn't matter how good a team is if you're not able to get results and points. Now, we're on a mission to turn this around and work our way back into the Premier League.

The pressure is on to start well, which is something that we're not typically known for, but there has to be a first time for everything, so I'm remaining positive until proven otherwise.

Looking at realistic expectations, I'm ignoring my dream of finishing in the automatic promotion spots and saying we can expect a finish of somewhere around fifth.

Given our number of outgoing players, our squad feels depleted at the moment, which will no doubt be a challenge over 46 games unless we can strengthen significantly before the end of the window.

In terms of level, the Portsmouth game gave us a glimpse of what we can expect against a Championship side.

Conceding first we quickly saw that we can be hurt, but managed to come back from behind to win 3-1.

For a first proper run out, it felt like a decent result, but also reminded us that we will need to work for every point this campaign.

For the first time in a very long time, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised and see West Ham go on an unbeaten run at the start of the season.

Am I setting my hopes too high? Most likely, but you have to dream.

Find more from Holly Turbutt at West Ham Network, external

Two relegated clubs will go head-to-head to open up their returns to the Championship as Burnley welcome West Ham United on Sunday (16:00 BST).

The Clarets will be under the guidance of new head coach Nicky Hayen as they look to get a third successive promotion to the top flight this season.

While for the Hammers, the headlines remain on off-field issues.

• Since a run of three successive league wins between December 2018 and July 2020, Burnley are winless in each of their last eight league encounters with West Ham United (D3 L5).

• West Ham United have won on three of their last four league visits to Burnley (D1), including a 2-0 victory in the Premier League last season, one of only four away victories.

• Since a 1-2 defeat to QPR in April 2023, Burnley are unbeaten in their last 24 EFL Championship matches at Turf Moor (W15 D9).

• While Burnley picked up fewer home points in the Premier League last season than any other side (13), only Leeds United (15), Burnley (9) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (6) accrued fewer on the road than West Ham (17).

• West Ham's Jarrod Bowen was one of six players in the Premier League last season to record at least 20 goal involvements (9 goals, 11 assists), with only Bruno Fernandes (21) and Rayan Cherki (12) providing more assists

West Ham are confident of agreeing a deal with Celtic to sign £20m-rated Belgium midfielder Arne Engels, 22. (Football Insider), external

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Friday's gossip column here.

The new EFL season is back and so is the 72+ podcast.

Aaron Paul is joined by Andy Woodman, Luke Chambers and Lyle Taylor to preview all three divisions on our new 72+ feed, looking at who are the promotion contenders, relegated giants and dark horses.

Salford City manager Peter Cklamovski also discusses his journey from Australia and Asia to English football, working with Ange Postecoglou and the pressure of taking charge of one of League Two's promotion favourites.

Listen below or on BBC Sounds here - and don't forget to subscribe to get each episode into your My Sounds feed.

The 72+ podcast has a new home - click here to subscribe

Matthew Cresswell
BBC Sport England

Image source, Watford FC

Former West Ham United striker Michail Antonio is currently training with Watford before the start of the Hornets' Championship campaign.

The 36-year-old made his final senior appearance for the Hammers in their 3-1 defeat by Leicester City on 3 December 2024, suffering a broken leg four days later in a car crash.

After being released by the Hammers in June 2025 following a 10-year spell, Antonio returned to the club as part of his rehabilitation and played two games for the under-21 side in Premier League 2.

He trained with Leicester City last December and had also been close to a move to Brentford but sustained a torn calf muscle the day before he was set to sign for the Bees, which scuppered the deal.

Antonio last played in April for Qatari side Al-Sailiya and made a total of four appearances for the club.

Prior to his move to West Ham in September 2015, Antonio played in the EFL for clubs including Reading, Sheffield Wednesday and Nottingham Forest.