Rarely has the start of a season been so highly anticipated. Eight new signings, several world class players already established in the team, a trophy from a couple of years ago still fresh in the memory and a new Head Coach and Technical Director impressing us all with their changes to West Ham’s culture and – as far as the results on the pitch – we look to see a gradual improvement over the coming months.
What a great time to be a Hammer.
Important to enjoy the coming 24/5 season for other reasons too.
We know now that two of our ‘Crown Jewels’ – Lucas Paquetá and Mo Kudus – have £85 million release clauses inserted into their contracts. Paquetá of course has the small matter of the F A Betting Enquiry hanging over him which, as has been reported elsewhere, in all probability won’t be resolved either way before the end of this season. If it goes against him – we won’t see him in Claret and Blue for years, if ever.
If as we hope, he is exonerated then come the transfer window, providing he has had a half decent season for the Irons he will, I’m sure be targeted by Manchester City and gone. Who can blame him for following his dream either.
Mohammed Kudus, similarly, will be in the shop window this season looking to impress as only he can. The publicising of a similar £85 million release clause in his contract co-incided virtually with the end of the clause, (30th June) for this year, too late for clubs to think about bidding. Also, he needs probably another 12 months to mature into the true world class player that we have seen from time to time.
But I am sure that the clause is there, ticking away like a little time-bomb, ready to explode next summer: Expect other clubs to be alerted and ready to bid. If he is as entertaining and prolific this season as he was in 23/4 then – expect the big money to come knocking.
Possibly, selling one or other of these ‘Crown Jewels’ next summer has already been factored into West Ham’s PSR figures: Deferring Todibo’s payments until next Summer makes sense when looked at under the prism of selling one or other of the prized assets.
This is not me criticising West Ham United for considering a sale, indeed it is sensible business to sell these stars for three times their purchase value, and lets face it, the Irons haven’t covered themselves in glory in the ‘player disposal’ skillset in recent years.
Most player sales under ‘the previous management’ lost money big time, apart from Declan Rice- Many £10 million plus each time. Expect that to be another string to Tim Steidten’s bow, knowing when to buy and when to sell. Football is big business now, whether we like it or not.
Time to enjoy them, this season, Hammers fans, and just remember nothing is forever..
It’s always been the case that they’d be moved on one way or another outside of an unexpected event. The money made on our crown jewels if reinvested into the next set of crown jewels would just be great business. I hope I’m not just the eternal optimist.
What a poxy piece, how bout you start moving in the positive and look towards our club winning a few games, keeping our best, adding more quality and becoming a regular top 6 club. Not possible in your world.
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I think Martin is being honest with reality. Pac-Man was about to sign for Man City until the betting accusation. There’s only Champions Leage qualification that makes the difference as we were qualified for the Europa.
And you’re being tone deaf his point is that we’re aboit to start a nee season and all this bloke can think to talk about is negative rubbish aboit selling our best players. The timing of this article is pathetic
I think avoiding reality is being tone deaf. There’s nothing negative about selling best players to replace them with new versions at a healthy profit. That’s actually a very strong approach for any club to take.
The model will be predicated on the sale of players for good profit to reinvest so the club is constantly evolving and hopefully improving. With that will come disappointment as players we love to watch move on, but the model, if implemented well could lead to an exciting future. On the players you highlight I am looking forward to seeing them thrive and enjoy a fantastic season, we can deal with the rest in the future
A lot can happen in favour of West Ham’s fortunes in a year, Martin. So many What If’s are possible, on and off the pitch.
I didn’t appreciate your article, and I liked it even less.
What a negative pile of rubbish this article is….here’s one for you why don’t you spin it round the other way,why would they be looking to put themselves in your so called shop window when they could achieve all there ambitions at West Ham,we are at the start of an exciting new era.
We have a proper organised structure finally in place now, a proper forward progressive head coach working alongside a very impressive sporting director, between the 2 of them whose to say they can’t take us to the next level building there team around the likes of Kudus and Paqueta not trying to sell them off like you write about.There comes a time where you have to draw a line if you want to get to that next level and put a marker down by keeping your best players,do you think City got to the level there at now by flogging there best players at the first opportunity.
This is our time to progress,to dream and to break into that next level,to do that we need to keep our best players not flog them off at the first so called big team that flatters there eyelids at them, they may be a big team but don’t forget we are Massive
Where do you think the money will come from to improve the squad if we don’t sell players that can then buy us 3 more players to up the quality of the squad? Even if you listen to Tim he has said it’s a 5 year project. The idea is to bring young players in then move them on for a huge profit, this will stop when we start qualifying for Europe year in year out and players want to come knowing we a massive team playing in to top competitions and challenging up the upper end of the premiership every year but even then you will probably find 2 or 3 players leaving each season. Every team do this including city, would you have sold Cole palmer if he was at west ham?
What a depressing piece Martin. I read the opening paragraph in great anticipation and excitement for the new season and just went downhill from there. Our owners have just spent £123.4 million bringing in some fantastic talent and we are the 5th highest spending team in Europe. Yet your article doesn’t include a single sentence on building our team around these players to help us become regular top 6 finishes and achieve the coveted Champion’s League qualification. Look at what ironically our opening day opponents Villa have achieved this year with Champion’s League qualification for the first time in their history. As Lopetegui said today “Our target is: don’t put limits on our dreams”. How refreshing to hear this from our new manager instead of the dreadful negative defensive approach we had to watch before. Yes we can all dare to dream but let’s not burst those bubbles before the seasons even begun!
I am puzzled by all the criticism of Martin’s article. He is just stating the obvious. Unless you have an owner with very deep pockets who is prepared to spend a lot of money, the “buy low and sell high” strategy is the only trick that will keep you competitive. I can think of a few teams that have won the Champions and Europa leagues that only survive doing exactly that. The trick is to have a very good scouting department.
Let’s walk before we run.
It’s all dependent on what happens this season, with the Paqueta decision, with where we finish this season. If we were to get champions league next year who knows, we might be able to keep some players.
Depressing or not, buying low, selling high, and reinvesting is a good strategy if you don’t have a sovereign wealth fund, oligarch, or clueless American writing checks. Look at Brighton, who have sold several “Crown Jewels” but have fielded good sides. However, for it to work the proceeds need to be reinvested in new players and not used to line the owners’ pockets. That is my worry.
we should be moving on our stars every now and then
but we have to secure a conveyor belt of talent, players to step up and offer the same potential without a significant drop off so when our stars do leave we already have someone adapted and ready to go
summerville and guilherme are examples of this imho
soule would have been the perfect paqetua replacement, such a shame we missed out, soler might be a viable stop gap, lopetegui seems convinced
either way this is how the club can sustainably invest in the future and continue to progress, the likes of kudus, etc can also be a stepping stone for the club
The way some of our fans constantly belittle the club is utterly ridiculous. We have the 2nd highest average attendance in the premier league. Our Achilles heel is Sullivan and his pet viper . Both are completely out their depth. Ones potless and the others plain useless .
Would expect this from Gonzo, not you Martin!
A lot of people seemed to forget football is a business first. Sales of players happen all the time.
With West Ham and other clubs like them if you see a player shine or excel they will be hoping for a move to Champions league club like City/United/Liverpool or the equivalent abroad.
We have to live with that and under no circumstance hang on to players who are determined to move (Payet etc).
So with Kudus and Paqueta we need to be both realistic and at the same time determined to drive for success. Winning trophies is the dream of every player. We need to get in the mix and top 4. It is a paradox, because you need the likes of Paqueta and Kudus to do that.
I agree it is both negative and poor timing of this article but thats all I see whether on this platform or elsewhere. They want to herd people in and one way to do this is to write both negative and positive pieces to keep drawing punters in and the click bait opportunities present.
This platform like West Ham football club is a business first. Don’t lose sight of that.
Rank the income of each club and then wait to see how close the final league ranking will be to that. Don’t expect any cup successes or Europe.