Forum | Non-Football Related

As the season closes, it means Graham Potter has, as of today, 120 days to decide on who renews and who departs from the club in the upcoming summer.

The headache of a decision will apply to FIVE players that we own: Vladimir Coufal, Danny Ings, Lukasz Fabianski, Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell.

A combination of these players’ weekly wages adds up to a staggering £360,000 PER WEEK. The most expensive of the bunch award going to… who else but Uncle Igy! At a con of £125,000 per week, it could only be described as ridiculous and comical if his contract was to be renewed.

It is best that the club departs from this mistake and lets someone else have him in the summer; we all sincerely hope this is the endINGS of an era.

Vlad’s been sniffered after by a plethora of clubs, Fenebache have been hot on his heels for years now, and Fulham also ‘highly admire’ the Czech international and are expected to make a move for him in the summer.

As much as Vlad has done for us and been part of our recent success, he has, as of late, been forced out of the squad, and this seemingly looks like the end, especially with the likes of Walker-Peters and Lamptey available on a free in the summer.

Fabo and Micky are expected to renew, it seems Fabo can go on forever, but eventually, the gloves will have to be hung up. Despite being at the age of 39, he’s the only one of the five mentioned that does have a renew clause in his contract, so it’s whether the club wants to trigger it or not.

Big Micky was nearly sold to the Brazilian side Gremio, but we rejected their ‘insulting offer’ of £2,000,000 for him.

Since then, unfortunately, Antonio has had his horrific car accident and fortunately is making a good recovery after completing two weeks in Dubai and is now back in England for training. It is expected for a contract to be offered to Antonio but on a reduction of his current wages, which currently lie at £85,000 per week.

Aaron Cresswell appears to be the one who’s most likely to renew out of the five, with Graham Potter finding form again in the 33-year-old and preferring to use him over Mavropanos in recent games.

West Ham: Areola, Wan-Bissaka, Todibo, Kilman, Cresswell, Scarles, Soucek, Alvarez, Bowen (C), Kudus, JWP Subs: Fabianski, Ferguson, Mavropanos, Soler, Guilherme, Ings, Rodriguez, Irving,

Leicester: Hermansen, Justin, Vestergaard, Faes, Kristiansen, Soumare, Ndidi, El Khannouss, De Cordova-Reid, Buonanotte, Vardy (C)

West Ham are entering the final quadrant of the season, and with that comes a summer window on the horizon, we had a ‘rebuild’ in the last summer transfer window, but this time we need to take over and form some identity within this squad.

It’s no hidden secret that we’ve spent big in these past three seasons across the last three transfer windows, we have spent a total of £402,100,000 but have clawed back £197,400,000, meaning our total spent has come to a total of £204,700,000 [rounded]

It has already been widely reported that we’re anticipating a Potter revamp, and many players are expected to come and go this window. In an attempt to achieve this, we’ve been looking at several free agents in the market, which also allows us to reduce money expenditure.

We have already contacted French side Lille regarding Jonathan David, who very nearly joined last season for a fee of around Twenty Million.

The club have also contacted highly rated Angel Gomes in the January window over a pre-contract agreement in an attempt to bring him to the London Stadium in the summer.

Regarding the Goalkeeper department, Alex Meret, whom we held an interest in, will not continue due to him about to finalise a new contract with Napoli within the coming days.

However, regarding defenders, midfielders and forwards it’s all to play for!

The most notable player for the backline would be Ola Aina, whom I’m sure about half the Premier League will be after due to his incredible season, Junior Firpo, who is currently at Leeds and has changed his agent could be someone we revive our interest in.

Yet, the top two names the club is interested in bringing in are Kyle Walker-Peters of Southampton and Tariq Lamptey from Brighton.

KWP, who we nearly signed in the Summer, has halted his contract talks with Southampton after their concerning season as it appears they’ll be getting relegated. The Hammers nearly signed Walker-Peters for £18,000,000 in the window, but attention was turned to AWB after Southampton raised the price.

Tariq Lamptey was very highly admired by Graham Potter at Brighton, and he described him as a ‘dream’ to manage.

With his contract running out and his immense versatility, it is expected that these two wingbacks will be a priority, with one of them expected to join, especially due to Vladimir Coufal’s contract expiring at the end of the season.

Carlos Soler is currently expected to return to PSG despite West Ham’s willingness to match the £15,000,000 fee PSG are asking for which is due to concern over his high wages.

Will Hughes has been brought up in recent times, the 29-year-old has been attracting attention from other clubs which has sparked Palace to start contract talks, yet his head could be turned to a move to East London if West Ham were to make a move.

Christian Norgaard is said to be ‘happy’ at Brentford yet hasn’t made his mind up on signing a new contract, it is unknown whether he aims to return back to his homeland in Denmark or perhaps pursue his career elsewhere in London.

We’ve already agreed on a pre-contract agreement with Celtic Forward Daniel Cummings, the youth sensation is expected to join in the summer, yet I wouldn’t rule out more forward incomings from the attacking free agent sector.

Sully might be licking his lips with an opportunity to sign Callum Wilson on a free… please no!

But other available options are Adama Traore from Fulham, Krepin Diatta from Monaco and Spanish International Javi Puado.

Javi Puado would be one to keep an eye on, with 9 G/A contributions this season in 23 matches. He is a very versatile player who can play on the left, right and up top. Negotiations with Espanyol have recently been resumed, yet it is expected that he is still going to leave in the summer to pursue his ambition to play at a higher tier in Europe.

There’s a plethora of other players available for pre-contract discussions, but there’s no point in mentioning unrealistic, ludicrous targets such as Joshua Kimmich or Virgil Van Dijk. All in all, there are many players available for the taking and it’s a question of finding one we want rather than just getting someone in for the sake of it.

Expect a lot of youth prospects to be named soon…