By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
The West Ham clearout shows no sign of slowing following the announcement today from ExWHUEmployee that the club are selling George Earthy.
Ex reports that Earthy is undergoing a medical at Reading ahead of completing a permanent move away from the London Stadium.
The attacking midfielder, who was part of the West Ham team which won the FA Youth Cup in 2023, was on the bench for our first Championship game of the season against Burnley last weekend.
However, Earthy’s future at the club has been uncertain for some time. Earlier this year, there remained hope that Earthy could force his way into Nuno Espírito Santo’s plans following his loan spell at Bristol City.
Clearly, that opportunity hasn’t materialised.
Earthy exit makes sense
If we’re honest, Earthy was unlikely to break into the first team this season.
If it wasn’t going to happen for him now after relegation to the Championship, it was probably never going to happen at all.
So allowing the skilful midfielder to depart, much like Callum Marshall earlier in the window, makes absolute sense.
West Ham have already sanctioned numerous departures this summer and the scale of Nuno and Nils Koppen’s planned squad clearout has been apparent for some time.
That said, considering Earthy was making up the numbers on a very thin West Ham bench at Turf Moor, it might have been wise to wait until after the Charlton game before releasing him.
Nuno isn’t exactly overflowing with options at the moment.
Good luck to George
As for George himself, he’s a great lad moving to a really good football club and I hope he thrives in League One.
Earthy’s West Ham career has been disrupted by injuries at some pretty rotten times, including another setback last season when he was trying to force his way into Nuno’s thinking.
Regular first-team football is exactly what he needs now.
It’s always a shame when one of our own leaves, particularly somebody from that brilliant FA Youth Cup-winning group, but at 21 Earthy needs to be playing.
Hopefully Reading is where he finally gets the opportunity to show everybody just how good he can be.
Should be at West Ham where these boys get a chance. Earthy never given the opportunity to show what he can do.
Gonzo he hasn’t been given a chance lately and that’s why he has to go. The club is a shambles, none on the board seems to have control, we are selling players with very few quality replacements arriving, and if it doesn’t happen in the next 4 or 5 days it won’t because clubs will sti k with what they have as it will be too late to find a replacement. Far too slow starting the rebuild!
So much for bringing up the youths , this clubs had it!
Do think it is time for Earthy to move on as he cannot expect to play under NES. Most academy players are there to fill out the squad in the meantime and their careers are on hold because do not seem to receive coaching one-on-one of sufficient value & intensity while training with the 1st team.
Anyhow, as soon as NES says ‘we aim to bounce back in one season’ it means you need players who can already handle Championship, even PL-ready players.
If had 5/6 academy players in the team as regulars + Engels, Solomon & others where needed, you could aim for a mid-table finish 26/27 and a promotion bid 27/28 season, coaching them in the meantime one-on-one and having them gain tons of experience.
It would be interesting to actually know, whether NES, Koppen, Noble think that players such as Golambeckis, Fearon, Orford, Scarles, Earthy, Magassa are able to become good Championship players and perhaps PL level, IF they were given the time and coaching to progress beyond U21 level.
The U21s play a very effective give-and-go game progressing up the pitch very quickly and NES could also play this way in addition to his standard 4-2-1-3. Both systems work. If Engels, Orford & Kante play in midfield it will be interesting to see if NES adapts and plays quick football like the U21 system or sticks to 2 DMs + one roaming no 10, until Pablo available again.
Some clubs have a style of play from the academy which suits the 1st team style of play. We seem to have quite a mismatch and a manager who wants tried and tested, in order to bounce back playing his style of football. With this squad we will not have problems (unless players stop playing for NES) but not sure how high up the table WHU will go.
Every story at the moment is about Nuno and Koppen, nobody else seems to be involved. Nuno is destroying West Ham. They remind me of a Sunday league team, struggling to get 12 players to turn up for a January morning kick off. 12 days to make some serious changes, otherwise there is no point in watching this continuing train wreck until January.
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. All of the contributors here, will be more than aware that West Ham United is a clown car, driven by brain damaged clowns across a minefield. Particularly during those hectic transfer windows during the BS era. When we lived in hope while watching the clock tick down, ending with the usual disappointment. Annoying, but completely normal to us. It might just be me. But there is something about our current situation, that feels very different this time. Is there a plan in place to reduce the clubs share value, before a US or Middle Eastern consortium, makes a hostile takeover bid. Conspiracy theory, yeah maybe, I get it. But Ms Staveley does have form in these matters. And it would go some way in explaining, why they are dismantling an already paper thin squad and keeping Nuno in place. Someone up high knows what is going on, but the fans, or should I say we mushrooms, will be kept in the dark, and fed on Buls**t, as usual. Until whatever it is that is going to happen, happens. As usual..
I don’t see the problem with cleaning the decks of players that aren’t good enough or have the wrong characteristics, in the 1st team that’s Alvarez, Todibo, Kilman, JWP and possibly Pablo too, Cornet am not sure what the story is there but he needs to go.
I keep banging on about it but why isn’t Golembeckis getting a game, maybe they are trying to get offers for Kilman…
I am wondering if DK is selling everyone to asset strip the team before selling to Staveley ?
I will leave it until the Millwall result – & the possible signing of some more VERY second rate players – until I make my forecast that West Ham WILL NOT be promoted this season; largely due to having to play without a defence for another season , & with a decimated midfield ! I just cannot believe what is happening at, & to, the club ! Pablo ? Pablo who ? Can’t think of any footballer of that name at West Ham !
I am getting very concerned on the amount of players we are selling and loaning out.These deals happen so quickly.
We are getting the odd player in, but we seem to take weeks to sign players and loose players because we are so slow in our buying negotiations.
I really do not know what players are going to be left, at present it seems any player is available if the price is right.
Over the last few days we have had another four or five players on their way.We have such a small squad and even the players we have found impossible to get rid off seem to be now moving on.
If I was Solomon and Piroe I would wonder what the heck is going on.
We need decent players in and before the window closes.
We do not want players too old, we need some pace.
Why have we not gone in for say Harvey Elliott or other fringe players in the premier
I was very excited at the start of the summer with all the optimistic talk and all the money we have from sold player, but not putting back into the team
You have got to give the loyal season ticket holders something to look forward to
In my opinion we need a minimum of six players to come in, defence in particular
Have wasted the season on Parrot and waiting for Diasal
Too good for us anyway &
Think someone needs to remind the owners we will need 11 players to field a team!
Too creative for Nuno. So much easier to drop back after taking a lead. Potter, Nuno, just varied shades of ….
It feels bad when a unproven academy player gets sold on but TBF not many of recent times have gone onto great success – unlike the earlier galaxy of stars we sold.
However to be into the season with such a thin squad with still more going out than coming in is very Sullivan like unprofessional.
Makes preseason largely irrelevant and so much change while trying to get results in a very competitive league is so counter productive.
We started without the critical spine sorted. No new CB, MF or CF and who knows what the best team will be, not even NES it seems.
We should be the big boys in the Championship and able to get deals others can’t and able to have something like the team sorted by now.
Sadly it all seems so reminiscent of recent seasons of last minute panics and compromises.
Then of course NES’s ability to tactically destroy second half performances with mad defensive substitutions that can’t work with the players he puts on.
Of course I hope we get great players in and NES is transforms the team into a winning machine but right now the signs are not good.
Gonzo – you say he’s a great lad, do you know him?
Attitude has been called into question and the last the managers haven’t used him. Didn’t pull up any trees at City in his second spell.
Fearon is the better prospect in my humble opinion. The fact he’s going to Reading says it all.
Mark Noble says Earthys a great lad with a great attitude so will take it from Nobes rather than from you mate if you don’t mind.
Great lads with great attitude might give us a few more Mark Nobles but we can’t have a team of ten outfield players all in the same mould, Mum.
If Mark knew much about it, he would have his coaching badges and have learnt about management by now.
COYI
👍❤️
What Nobes won’t say is his parents were perhaps a little of the opinion that their son should be treated differently to others. But then I am sure you knew that mate. But perhaps their son had a slightly inflated opinion of them themselves hence why he’s been shown the door. Others who are knuckling down will be preferred.
I suspect your Nobes quote dates back to Lopi so somewhat out of date but again another manager who didn’t pick him.
Thanks for the insight though.
Gonzo noticed Sparta Prague are building a brand new 30000 seater new stadium while we are selling our soul Bit odd isnt Just saying umn
Never been in that thinks all the academy graduates are ready made first team players, but I really struggle with some of the decisions Nervous Nuno makes. How an ex goalkeeper is qualified to make decisions on outfield players is something I’ve struggled with. Most ex goalkeepers who have become managers have usually been mediocre or failures. Dino Zoff with Italy is probably an exception, but 2 of our last 3 managers who been ex goalkeepers and both have been walking disasters!
This is just an extension to Potters clear out when he got rid of experienced long term players.
Whu great at finding managers for making squad smaller.
Gonzo this is a joke now We have the thinest squad in the cship now This has got to be a sell out by the owners Imn going to ask for my ticket money back under the trade discrimination act We fans are being laughed at Disgraceful
Very disappointing ! A better option would have been to keep Earthy and sell JWP who proved in the second half against Burnley that he offers nothing.
If this was a Nuno decision it is yet another bad one.
Earthy was a bit lightweight and far too injury-prone. Marshall was never going to be good enough, and the offer we received for Potts was simply too good to turn down.
It does create room for some of the other academy prospects. I’m hoping Fearon gets a chance, Meyers gets more game time, and Ajala gets a proper opportunity.
Nuno has given more youngsters a chance than Moyes, Lopetegui and Potter combined, so I’m certainly not going to slate him for that.
We need to see 4–5 new signings over the next two weeks, not including Piroe. We desperately need some legs in that squad.
Nils, please provide!
Not one academy player that has left us has made it ! They just aren’t good enough
How many of our current squad have lived up to their potential?
Spot on mate.
Nuno: We need more attacking options.
Also Nuno: Off you trot.
What the hell is going on at West Ham. I appreciate Nuno doesn’t want players who he doesnt like, yet Pablo gets chance after chance despite the fact he’s barely a professional footballer.
Feels like we’re going all in on this 442 formation, with no plan B as all the defensive midfielders and all the attacking midfielders are being sold, yet we have 2 wide midfielders and 3 senior strikers (one of which is the aformentioned Pablo).
At the moment, we’re expecting to see AWB, Diouf, Todibo, Magassa, Alverez and Cornet (and I also read JWP) all leave the club in the next couple of weeks. Thatll leave us with 2 keepers, 2 full backs, 5 centrebacks (assuming Mayers and Golembeckis aren’t loaned out), 5 central midfielders (assuming Lamadrid is seen as one, and Orford and Kante remain), 2 wingers and 4 strikers (assuming Ajala isn’t loaned out). Thats a 20 man squad, with 4 of those not needing registering.
Amanda Staveley has properly smashed the plans for this window. I have no reason to doubt that Kretinsky was going to loan the club money, and better funded this window. The attitude with Fernandes and Summervile and getting Bowen to re sign is testament to that. However, his cash is now being used to secure shares that he wasnt expecting and probably at a higher value than they were before. I don’t blame Vanessa Gold for taking a better price, but its properly broken the boardroom.
Oh to be a West Ham fan. We need to be convincing against Charlton on Saturday, otherwise I think the fans will begin to turn more than they have. I don’t think Nuno is any danger of the sack mind. The decision makers at the club are not looking at the pitch at the moment. We could be sleepwalking into a big problem.
If this were the 1960s all these youngsters being got rid of would have stayed and would have made a good side in time. Having to compete for places with the whole world makes such a difference to their careers. The irony is that with the whole world to choose from WH are not in the PL! Stay local.
Shame…That youth cup winning side has been dismantled by the four managers that have come after ….Meanwhile Lewis skelly has played for England…After finishing on the losing side!…I wonder if its because Arsenal have a continuity that West Ham just cant seem to grasp…When your Ego becomes bigger than the club you are running then problems will arise…Looking forward lets hope calmer times are coming…Whoever is in charge.
Earthy, Potts, Marshall all proven Championship players and dismissed without a game between them. I sometimes wonder if Nuno was brought in to destroy us rather than save us.
Yes, it’s a shame but he does need to be somewhere where he can establish himself.
And although it’s another potential sale, he won’t exactly be leaving a hole in the squad. Fearon might be the obvious candidate to step up.
Hi Gonzo.. will we even have a midfield come 2nd of September? 🫣
Another good academy grad who never got a chance. Nuno continues to ruin this club by writing people off based on training sessions. How are all these decisions going to look when Nuno is gone by the end of November??
Totally agree I hope you are right about Nuno being gone before the end of November. Alas I fear that no matter how poor results are there is no one actually running the club right now to make that decision.
I am also particularly disappointed in the writers from C&H who seem to be fully behind Nuno and Kretinsky. We are all entitled to an opinion