West Ham must sign 'starters' not back-up players this summer, insists Slaven Bilic

Slaven Bilic has warned it will not be easy for West Ham to secure their top transfer targets this summer.

The Hammers flirted with relegation during the 2016-17 season but eventually recovered to secure an 11th place Premier League finish.

Bilic was backed in the transfer market last summer but the majority of the club's new signings failed to make a significant impact at the London Stadium, with Jonathan Calleri, Gokhan Tore and Alvaro Arbeloa all set to depart.

The Croatian manager is expected to oversee more new arrivals this summer but is adamant he needs players capable of improving his best XI rather than strengthening his options on the bench.

"We know what positions we would like to improve the team," he told West Ham's official website.

"We have a list of the players but it's not very easy to get them. It's not easy but it looks very positive so far.

"We need quality players. Sometimes you are buying players for the future or squad players to be back up.

"We are good in that department. But mainly we need players who are going to be game changers.

"There are no guarantees in football but we need starting XI players for some positions."

Sourcing players who will challenge for regular game time but are within budget represents a sizeable challenge for the east Londoners.

And Bilic has accepted that the cream of the crop are likely to be out of the Hammers' reach.

The 48-year-old added: “We want it all, but those players are very hard to get and they cost a bit.They are pretty much the privilege of the big, big, big guns.

"We have to close our eyes on some things. We can’t expect them to tick all the boxes with a mark ten."

Meanwhile, Standard Sport understands West Ham have cooled their interest in Jermain Defoe due to the striker's high wage demands.