I should also add, and I don't mean to detract from what has been poor recruitment- but we are not the only ones with this problem.
Liverpool wated to move on Karius, Origi, Shaqiri, Wilson, Grujic and others for decent money this window. None of them have gone thus far. The plan was to do the same with Lallana and Wijnaldum. They're haggling over a 15m for the latter (10m less than they paid) and had to eventually let Lallana see his contract out, after establishing there was no point in renewing his contract another year for a fee as it wouldnt have been coming. Even Lovren they had felt they'd get 30 for, they had to make do with 10, with a large amount based on bonuses and a hefty payment to an agend as well (the guarenteed money is probabaly around 2-3m after that, with some add ons).
They are widely (and in my view rightly) considered one of the well run clubs.
I spoke to a lot of West Ham fans in the summer, and tmheir view was everyone was for sale bar Rice. The problem is, nobody really wants any of their players accept for Rice. It's easy everyone putting their garbage up for sale, but because of the wages there are very little takers. They probably thought someone would come in and pay for Lanzini maybe 20 for Anderson, but you put the wages in too and people are ultimately just going to go down the loan route and probably just pay a portion of the wage. This is why the young lad they've just sold had to go, as West Brom would at least pay a proper fee.
So there's a much wider issue at play here, and yes we have problems too.