{"id":446515,"date":"2026-02-26T10:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446515\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:58:12","slug":"west-ham-board-blame-graham-potter-over-deep-leeds-regret-and-laud-nuno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/446515\/","title":{"rendered":"West Ham board blame Graham Potter over deep Leeds regret and laud Nuno"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/ Add as preferred source on Google <\/a> <\/p>\n

The West Ham board have pulled no punches when asked whether they regret missing out to Leeds for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, blaming former manager Graham Potter.<\/p>\n

West Ham\u2019s<\/a> struggles this season can be traced back to the club\u2019s failure to sign more strikers in the summer.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Leeds United have made a much better fist of things after signing Dominic Calvert-Lewin<\/a> following a brutal snub by the Hammers.<\/p>\n

The world and its wife knew the Hammers needed at least two new forwards heading into what was always going to be a fiercely competitive Premier League<\/a> season.<\/p>\n

West Ham confirm Potter snubbed Leeds star Calvert-Lewin<\/p>\n

Especially with the likes of newly-promoted Leeds spending big in a bid to remain in the top flight.<\/p>\n

Now the West Ham board have laid the blame for their deep Leeds regret squarely at the door of former manager Graham Potter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Is Cry the spark to ignite our \u2018Great Escape\u2019? \ud83e\ude8f \ud83d\udd26 <\/p>\n

\"Carlos <\/p>\n

And the Hammers\u2019 hierarchy have lauded Nuno Espirito Santo<\/a> for living in the real world.<\/p>\n

Calvert-Lewin was linked with a move to West Ham in every single transfer window for the last three years until joining Leeds as a free agent in the summer.<\/p>\n

The ex England forward was offered to the Hammers again before signing for the Elland Road outfit and was reportedly keen to move to east London.<\/p>\n

\"DominicPhoto by Jon Hobley\/MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n

West Ham snubbed Calvert-Lewin due to his injury record<\/a>, exclusively telling Hammers News last summer: \u201cThe injuries are the problem. When you need him, he\u2019s not available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well Calvert-Lewin has certainly been available when Leeds have needed him. And then some.<\/p>\n

It is fair to say the Hammers have been left red-faced by that decision, with the capture proving inspired business which looks set to keep Leeds up \u2013 possibly at West Ham\u2019s expense at the time of writing.<\/p>\n

The striker has scored 10 Premier League goals for Leeds already, earning a place on The Telegraph\u2019s<\/a> list of the 20 signings of the season.<\/p>\n

West Ham board regret Calvert-Lewin decision and laud Nuno for twin striker signing<\/p>\n

The list has highlighted the fact Calvert-Lewin has won the second most aerial duels (81) of all forwards while scoring over a quarter of Leeds\u2019 Premier League goals this season, one of only four players to do so in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Now the West Ham board have admitted their deep regret at not taking up the offer to sign Calvert-Lewin, blaming Potter and lauding Nuno for waking up and smelling the relegation coffee when he arrived.<\/p>\n

Could Eli Junior Kroupi be West Ham\u2019s biggest ever \u2018one that got away\u2019? <\/p>\n

The Hammers agreed a \u00a335m fee for him\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Eli <\/p>\n

Last summer, West Ham\u2019s board revealed Potter did not want a new striker<\/a> with Callum Wilson eventually forced on the now interim Sweden coach.<\/p>\n

Now West Ham\u2019s owners<\/a> have conceded they regret listening to Potter and snubbing Calvert-Lewin only for him to be the difference-maker at Elland Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes we regret not signing Calvert-Lewin, especially on a free transfer,\u201d the most senior spokesman for West Ham\u2019s owners exclusively told Hammers News.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Mr Potter didn\u2019t want a forward and would not let us sign or buy one.<\/p>\n

\u201cNuno came in and immediately identified that he wanted two and it has helped us massively.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WestPhoto by Nigel French\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In fairness to Potter, his refusal to take Calvert-Lewin may have looked a valid one at the time.<\/p>\n

West Ham have been criticised for signing injury-prone forwards such as Niclas Fullkrug.<\/p>\n

And doubts over Calvert-Lewin\u2019s injury record were well founded at the time.<\/p>\n

Prior to joining Leeds, Calvert-Lewin had 23 injuries listed over two pages on his record<\/a> dating back to the 2015\/16 season.<\/p>\n

The total number of days he had missed amounted to 1,373.<\/p>\n

That is over three-and-a-half years on the sidelines in the last decade.<\/p>\n

But it is clear West Ham\u2019s pain at missing out has been Leeds United\u2019s gain.<\/p>\n

Although it is at Potter\u2019s door that the Hammers are laying the blame.<\/p>\n

Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n

Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google The West Ham board have pulled no punches when asked whether they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":446516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[121079,1345,218,1605,45733,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-446515","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-dominic-calvert-lewin","9":"tag-exclusive","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-graham-potter","12":"tag-nuno-espirito-santo","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=446515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/446515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/446516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=446515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=446515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=446515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}