Nuno Espirito Santo and his squad will be desperate to return to the Premier League at the first attempt, and with a reported 50,000+ season ticket holders already signing up, it would appear that the East London faithful are right behind them.
Big commitment from Bowen and Soucek
A real boost for the Hammers would've come in the guise of Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek, to name just two players, deciding to stay with the club for their second-tier sojourn, rather than jump ship to continue playing at the highest level.
Convinced by the plans that the club has for the future, it's still a massive commitment from senior stars who will have been inundated with offers to move elsewhere.
After what was one of the poorest seasons for the club in recent memory, there are evidently still reasons to be cheerful for the fan base, though one issue won't have escaped their attention.
At the time of writing, only Keiber Lamadrid, a 22-year-old left winger, has been signed by the club, for just over €1m.
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Loan stars returning
Edson Alvarez, Niclas Fullkrug, Maxwel Cornet and James Ward-Prowse have all seen their respective loans end, but if they weren't good enough for the club before, the question must be asked as to why they might be considered the right fit now.
With well over £100m banked from the sales of Mateus Fernandes and Crysencio Summerville alone, there's certainly a transfer war chest available for Nuno to bring in some new faces.
The fact that he hasn't been able to is an odd decision to say the least.
How else do you explain why, with less than a fortnight before the start of the league season, the East Londoners haven't really strengthened?
Even if the general belief was that the squad is strong enough already to compete at the Championship level, competition for places would give the squad the impetus to show their best each and every week, knowing that their place could be at risk if they don't.
Potential takeover afoot?
Furthermore, surely West Ham would've learned their lesson from a few seasons ago, when they sold Declan Rice to Arsenal, but then failed to buy any players at all until a few days before the new season began.
With a schedule in the Championship that is far more demanding in terms of the number of games across the season, the Irons are going to need sufficient back-up to ensure that they can utilise like-for-like swaps should injuries or suspensions occur.
News too that Amanda Staveley and PCP Capital Partners have agreed a deal with Vanessa Gold for her shareholding in the club might well be having an impact on what's happening player-wise.
Though it still isn't clear if the majority shareholder, Daniel Kretinsky, will take too kindly to PCP's involvement, particularly if it leads to an aggressive full takeover bid, that still doesn't negate the fact that money is not being spent on squad strengthening.
Still almost a month left of the transfer window
Indeed, this should be a totally separate issue from what may or may not be happening in the boardroom at the London Stadium.
Of course, it's also worth considering that selling clubs are putting a premium on their players simply because they know West Ham will potentially be looking to spend big to get them back up, and were that to be the case, Kretinsky et al would be well within their rights to keep their cash safe.
There are still a few weeks of the transfer window left, so there may yet be movement in or out of the club.
With Nuno wanting to hit the ground running, however, it would arguably be more beneficial for the Hammers to have a settled side long before the season gets going in earnest.
Jason Pettigrove has been the features writer for Flashscore since 2025, utilising Opta data to form the basis of his articles. He has previously worked for high profile football clubs, news and media outlets, both in print and digital, and can usually be found watching FC Barcelona when time permits. You can read more of his pieces here.
