WITH a burgeoning list of players deemed surplus to requirements, Head of recruitment Nils Koppen has his work cut out this summer.
West Ham United will have to take some pretty big losses to move on those players who Nuno has designated ‘unwanted’ – but there must be question marks over the Hammers’ ability to find buyers.
West Ham’s headstrong manager has shown little willingness to reconsider decisions made for players who are excluded from the match day squad – James Ward Prowse being the case in point – but the Hammers do seem to be running the risk of having many other players sat ‘high and dry’ without prospects of playing for the club and without buyers willing to take on their huge salaries.
Ward Prowse will do be desperate for a move away from West Ham, his career in tatters- unlike his bank balance
Some would suggest (and have commented in the C and H forum) it is Nuno’s failing – he does seem to ostracise those who he falls out with rather than manage them back into squad integration: There seems a real risk of a West Ham ‘bomb squad’ developing.
Millions of pounds worth of unwanted players, effectively paid to stay away from Nuno’s first team in a carbon copy of Chelsea’s situation which saw several senior players training separately and kept at arms length from the main squad. Hardly good for morale or financial propriety.
Realistically, though, it is all well and good earmarking players for sale but you have to wonder who will pay the huge wages of players like Alphonse Areola, James Ward Prowse and Niclas Fullkrug. Even with their 50% relegation clauses the trio are all on big money for thirty something players.
Maxi Cornet escapes this group solely thanks to reports that West Ham may be about to pay him off: None apparently appear to have a future under Nuno and with Jean Clair Todibo similarly classified as ‘unwanted’, there is a core who risk being left high and dry without prospects of playing again in the near future unless they swallow their pride and drop their wage requirements to get transfers at any cost to restart their careers.