A major part of West Ham United's successful season surely has to be attributed to their recent improvement when it comes to buying players. 

With David Gold admitting the club had 'chased dreams' under Manuel Pellegrini, who made a number of high-profile signings to have provided little in the way of return, David Moyes appears to have struck gold of late.

The likes of Tomas Soucek, Jarrod Bowen and Vladimir Coufal have all impressed and the London Evening Standard revealed the Scotsman had been taking a larger role in the recruitment process, helping them unearth gems. 

While suggesting Jesse Lingard was a diamond in the rough would be a tad hyperbolic given his status as an England international as well as a fairly high-profile Manchester United player, his loan signing was not without risk. 

Prior to his move, he had played only 176 minutes of football this season after a 2019/20 campaign that saw him start just nine Premier League games. With those appearances yielding a solitary goal, the 28-year-old looked to be caught in the footballing wilderness. 

Though he has hit the ground running at West Ham, that was far from a certainty and the team behind the scenes surely deserve credit for taking a chance on him when no one else would. 

Indeed, according to Dean Jones, the club have been so happy with what they've seen so far that they will attempt to convert his loan deal into a more permanent arrangement this summer. 

"They are definitely considering trying to sign him permanently", he said on the latest episode of the Touchline Talk Podcast (10.20). 

"To be honest, they tried to sign him permanent already. The numbers just didn't add up to exactly how they wanted them. 

"They will try and sign him permanently." 

GIVEMESPORT's Jonathan Gorrie says... 

Obviously, given his immediate impact, trying to keep him on a long-term basis makes total sense. 

Though West Ham's decision not to try and sign a striker in order to replace Sebastien Haller may have seemed strange considering the dearth of options Moyes has available in that department, perhaps Lingard can offer a solution.

He's already contributed to three goals in as many games clad in claret and blue, meaning he has a higher goal involvement tally than all but five of the rest of the squad. Having also been the Hammers' most progressive carrier of the ball against both Sheffield United and Aston Villa, it's clear he's already making a marked impact on their attacking play. 

If they can get him, West Ham's recent recruitment success could continue.