West Ham: Moyes could repeat Zabaleta trick with Taylor Harwood-Bellis

Taylor Harwood-Bellis starred on loan for Burnley in the Championship last season, but he could be on his way out of Manchester City.

West Ham United appear to be belatedly ready to begin their summer transfer spending frenzy with the addition of two new signings this week.

Who have West Ham signed so far?

United have waved goodbye to Manuel Lanzini since the end of last season, while Declan Rice’s £105m switch to Arsenal is on the brink of going through, but no new players have been brought in.

After kicking off their pre-season campaign with a 4-1 win over Boreham Wood at the weekend, it looks likely that West Ham are now in a position to start getting deals over the line.

Denis Zakaria and Luiz Felipe are reportedly close to arriving from Juventus and Real Betis respectively, while Daily Mail reporter Jack Gaughan suggests the Hammers are also showing an “interest” in Manchester City youngster Taylor Harwood-Bellis.

It is claimed that London rivals Fulham are also interested in the England U21 international, who is valued at £15m by City as he enters the final year of his existing contract.

Is Taylor Harwood-Bellis a good player?

The 21-year-old’s stock is particularly high at this moment in time as he has just skippered England U21s to their first European title in 39 years, fresh on the back of winning the Championship with Burnley last season.

Harwood-Bellis was stood out in the heart of the second tier’s best defence last season, leading the way as he did among Burnley players for interceptions (1.8 per game), blocks (0.7 per game) and aerial duels won (2.8 per game), as per WhoScored.

The defender has also impressed on loan at Anderlecht, Stoke City and Blackburn Rovers, with the then-manager of the latter, Tony Mowbray, hailing his “warrior” like attitude in wanting to win every ball.

Burnley do not appear to be in the running to sign Harwood-Bellis permanently, but the Englishman is clearly now ready to make the step up to the Premier League, rather than spending another year learning his trade elsewhere.

If those aforementioned statistics were not enough to tempt West Ham, the Irons have a good success rate when it comes to signing players from City down the years, including fellow defender Pablo Zabaleta in 2017.

Zabaleta was at a completely different stage of his career than Harwood-Bellis, having arrived at West Ham as a 32-year-old with 12 seasons of top-flight football under his belt, but the omens are certainly positive.

The former Argentina international would go on to play 80 times for West Ham over three seasons, before announcing his retirement in an emotional open letter on the club’s official website in 2020.

Harwood-Bellis, who has been on City’s books since 2008, will hope to have an even bigger impact than Zabaleta should he join West Ham. Like Zabaleta, the Stockport native will arrive with a point to prove, having been effectively deemed not good enough for City.

As a player who ranks in the top 1% of all centre-backs over the past year for passes attempted in the eight leagues most comparable to the Championship (85.09 per 90), as per FBref, and in the top 11% for interceptions (1.92 per 90), there is no reason why Harwood-Bellis cannot now make a name for himself in the Premier League for a number of years to come – much like Zabaleta did across his spells with City and West Ham.