This transfer window has seen a stunning selection of transfers completed and some very inspiring new recruits to the West Ham Squad. Nobody would have believed this at the start of the window- that players of the quality of Aaron Wan Bissaka, Jean Clair Todibo and Max Kilman would all have been brought in by the management.
These players all come with their hefty salary bills, however, it isn’t just about the headline ‘millions paid’ and Profit and Sustainability Rules: West Ham United now have to work within Salary related to Income rules being overseen again by the Premier League. In addition to Profit and Sustainability Rules, clubs agreed in June to follow the so-called ‘Squad Cost Rules’ (SCR) which limit spending on wages, transfer payments and agents’ fees to 85% of their total revenue.
Having enquired of Claret and Hugh’s highly placed source within the club, it is clear that West Ham United urgently needed to clear some of the big-earning salaries from the squad: We asked if Kurt Zouma’s departure and the subsequent lowering of costs was holding up the Carlos Soler interest – the reply was: ‘It really needs more than that (Zouma”s salary) – as our wages are now out of control with the new regulations’.
That would tally with the earlier news concerning other senior squad members’ possible exits. Many of the ‘eight shortlisted’ players for sale have salaries in excess of £100,000 a week or nearly six million a year: Kurt Zouma is currently receiving a salary of six and a half million a year: West Ham desperately need to cut their salary costs both to comply with SCR and to fit in any further arrivals.
As per Gonzo’s report earlier, Kurt Zouma has a new medical booked as both his agents and West Ham are working feverishly to get him off the books this window: Expect the midnight oil to be well and truly burned between now and transfer deadline day to get more of the fringe players off the books.
It seems to be increasingly urgent to get these deals done for both the regulations and the rebuilding of the squad and from the amounts spent early in the window I think it is now clear The Hammers are finding it far harder to shift players out on the high salaries they’re earning.
The identity is now known of some of the squad who have turned down deals to leave the London Stadium , now known to be Nayef Aguerd and Danny Ings – that is the extra challenge facing The Board and Management in these chaotic last days of the summer window. Probably there is a way to go in both of those potential player departure negotiations.
‘ as our wages are now out of control with the new regulations’. ‘Highly placed sources’ in companies never make comments like this. If they do, they should be gone or at least stop being sources. Another point missing from this article is that the NEW PSR regulations are for 2025-6. It would be ‘urgent’ if it was the CURRENT regulations that were going to be breeched but less so if it is next season when several of the big earners come off anyway and some like Ings will be coming up to the end of their contracts. And that all depends on the regulations staying in place because many other clubs have issues and will likely try to delay or scrap changes.