Astonishing scenes are unfolding at West Ham as the club closes in on four new signings with the January window only officially opening on Friday – but the owners should be ashamed.

Hammers fans are in shock and disbelief at the 24 hours of transfer activity and there is more on the way.

West Ham are staring relegation from the Premier League in the face after collecting an abysmal 14 points from the first half of the season.

With just three wins to their name so far, the Hammers know they must win at least another seven from the remaining 19 games to stand any chance of survival.

Nuno Espirito Santo has struggled to have the kind of new manager bounce many hoped for and expected since replacing Graham Potter three months ago.

Panic button pressed as West Ham close on four new signings

West Ham’s under-fire board always vowed to back Nuno when the January transfer window rolled around.

But nobody expected what has happened in the last 24 hours or so.

Pablo looks set to be West Ham’s first signing of January…💪

What are YOUR thoughts on this deal?

There appeared to be all-too-familiar tension building behind the scenes between the manager and owners over transfers.

That ramped up following West Ham’s failure to beat depleted Fulham and Brighton sides at home in the last two games, stretching the club’s winless run to eight matches.

The winter market actually officially opens on Friday and runs until February 2nd.

West Ham’s owners called Nuno out over transfers, claiming he has been ‘very slow’ to approve targets to sign.

Nuno hit back and issued West Ham’s board with an ultimatum, demanding signings as quickly as possible and insisting he had given them the names of players he wants.

Incredibly, West Ham are now closing in on four new signings, but the owners should actually hang their heads in shame.

West Ham’s transfer window burst into life when a David Sullivan ally claimed multiple bids were in for players to give Nuno his wish for early signings.

But Hammers fans have heard it all before and are too long in the tooth to get carried away.

Fourth signing eyed after Pablo, Castellanos and Traore

Especially as the owners are famous for dragging their heels over deals and making lowball bids with scepticism over whether there is ever any real intention to actually sign the players in question.

However, as reported two days ago, West Ham are racing to seal a double signing with striker Pablo on his way from Portuguese side Gil Vicente in a £20m deal and Fulham’s Adama Traore set to join too.

Adama Traore has a dismal minutes-to-goal record in the Premier League 😲

West Ham are sleepwalking towards relegation with this transfer…

That was remarkable enough in itself for the Hammers.

But what has followed overnight is nothing short of astonishing.

As first reported by leading West Ham insider ExWHUemployee, West Ham are now closing on the £27m signing of Lazio’s Argentine striker Valentín Castellanos.

The talented 27-year-old has been likened to Marko Arnautovic in that he is the kind of all-rounder West Ham have been crying out for rather than an out-and-out striker.

A host of top Italian journalists including Gianluca Di Marzio are confirming the deal is now close for ‘Taty’ Castellanos to become a third Hammers acquisition of a window that has not even been officially open for a day yet.

West Ham are not stopping there, though.

The team’s biggest problem for over two years has been conceding far too many goals.

The Hammers find it nigh impossible to keep a clean sheet with 38 goals conceded this season so far, an average of exactly two per game.

So it should be no surprise that a new defender is next in the club’s sights.

The Hammers failed with a deadline day move for ex Leeds centre-back Cresswell in the summer.

West Ham owners should hang heads in shame over signings

His club Toulouse rejected Sullivan’s loan with £13.5m obligation offer and the club signed flop Igor Julio instead.

West Ham are looking to try and rip up Igor’s loan with Brighton after he was left out of several squads by Nuno.

Cresswell was a key player as England Under 21s won the Euros in the summer and the Hammers boss is a big fan of his fearless defending, aerial ability and leadership.

Now the likes of teamTALK have confirmed Hammers News’ exclusive, claiming a move to succeed where they failed in the summer for Cresswell is now imminent.

For many supporters, though, any optimism around the incoming quartet is being overshadowed by frustration, anger and a growing belief that the club’s owners should hang their heads in shame over how things have been run.

Of course West Ham simply have to go for it in the January window if they are to have any chance of staying up.

But the sudden ambition, ability to find the funds required and speed at which West Ham are operating leaves a sour taste.

Supporters understandably find it very strange that when the club was sitting in, or on the brink, of the top four in January on three separate occasions under David Moyes – including the turn of the year into 2024 – the Hammers showed little to no ambition whatsoever.

Who knows what West Ham could have achieved had the club pushed on and signed the finishing touches needed on those occasions.

Where was West Ham’s ambition when it mattered most?

After all the Hammers came agonisingly close to Champions League football, missing out by a solitary win on two occasions.

Yet when West Ham are languishing in 18th and staring what many feel is now an inevitable relegation in the face, suddenly the club is capable of signing two strikers in 24 hours and pushing for four new arrivals in the opening days of the window.

For many it shows that the owners prioritise simply existing and surviving in the Premier League over pushing for real success.

Sullivan, Daniel Kretinsky and the board simply had to back Nuno or accept demotion to the Championship.

Whether that should be celebrated as ambition or the consequences of a lack of it when it really mattered is another debate entirely.