There’s been a major twist at West Ham after a star expected to leave made a surprise public plea to Graham Potter to let him stay at the club.
Speculation has been rife this week about another huge turnaround for the West Ham squad this summer.
With sales needed to raise funds for signings, Graham Potter has admitted some big decisions need to be made in order to rebuild the team.
This week it was claimed the Hammers could let between 16-18 players go.
There has been a steady stream of stories about the West Ham players Potter wants to ship out.
From Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta to Edson Alvarez and Tomas Soucek.
It has even been claimed West Ham would be willing to listen to offers for Max Kilman, that’s despite a solid first season in east London.
The Hammers have a number of ageing players out of contract such as Michail Antonio, Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski and Danny Ings.
That quintet alone have a combined age of 145.
Potter admits he has big decisions to make on squad
So with Potter said to be keen to drive down the age of the Premier League’s oldest squad, they would be an obvious place to start when it comes to departures.
That would also shave a sizeable chunk off the weekly wage bill – with Antonio and Ings between them earning nearly a million pounds per month.
West Ham also have two players on loan in Evan Ferguson and Carlos Soler.
It has been widely reported and accepted that Ferguson’s poor loan spell thus far – in which he has failed to register a shot on target let alone a goal – means West Ham won’t be paying to sign him permanently from Brighton.
Ferguson is the solitary signing of Potter’s tenure thus far and has not filled many fans with confidence regarding his judgement.
Soler is slightly more complicated – especially given Potter’s recent actions.
The Spaniard has actually been a breath of fresh air off the pitch at West Ham since arriving from PSG.
Given is lack of game time across the season, Soler could be forgiven for simply going through the motions.
Yet many have likened Soler to his fellow Spaniard and friend Pablo Fornals for his positive attitude and the way he has embraced being a Hammer.
Shock twist as Soler leave begs Potter for West Ham stay
That was evident again this week when Soler was one of the only top first team players to congratulate West Ham’s Under 18s on social media after they won the Premier League Cup.
Unfortunately Soler has blown hot and cold on the pitch.
But he has suddenly become a key starter for Potter in recent weeks, taking the place of stars who are actually owned by West Ham, such as Soucek and Alvarez.
Some fans have questioned Potter’s decision to keep starting a player who many expect will be leaving in a few weeks.
As a result it’s been suggested by many that Potter is making it clear he wants to keep the former Valencia star.
Now there’s a shock twist as the West Ham star expected to leave begs Potter to let him stay.
In a new interview, Soler has admitted the season and his loan hasn’t gone as well as he expected or would have liked.
But for the first time he has made it clear he would love to stay at West Ham for years to come.
“It’s not been what I expected, nor what the team or the fans expected in terms of the objective, because when I arrived at this big club, the goal was not to be where we are now, the goal was an ambitious project with lots of new players and new coaches and trying to do things better than last year,” Soler told West Ham’s website.
‘I would love to be in this league for a lot more years’
“However, I have really enjoyed my season here despite not being in the position that we want to be in. I have enjoyed living here in London, playing with this team and playing in front of this crowd and these incredible fans.
“I would have loved to play more and to be more involved in the starting line-ups, but it doesn’t just depend on me, it’s what is best for the team, for the staff, the Head Coach and for everyone at the club.
“I’ve always tried to do my best in training and in the games, and sometimes in football it doesn’t happen how you want, but I’ve enjoyed this year here in England, and obviously I would love to be in this league for a lot more years because every player wants to play in the Premier League, and I’m no different.”
Signing Soler outright is not going to be easy for West Ham if that’s what Potter wants, though.
His £240k per week at PSG runs until 2027.
So the midfielder is due another £23m in wages from the mega rich French champions over the next two years.
Nobody in their right mind would give up that kind of money.
The only way West Ham would be able to do a deal would be if PSG supplemented the difference in wages between what he was on there and what he will get in east London by way of a payout.
