Kretinsky Player Pledge Will be Music to The Ears of West Ham Fans

By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)

The message from West Ham owner-in-waiting Daniel Kretinsky was a simple one:

“Key players are waiting for us. They want to see there is a real chance of keeping the squad together. We have spoken to all of them. They need to see that our project is real and serious. Promotion is our only goal.”

It’s understandable.

After years of a lack of ambition under the stewardship of Karren Brady and David Sullivan, the players want to see that the club are serious about moving forward.

Players Want Proof

Clearly there is a lot of unseen work taking place behind the scenes to persuade enough key players to remain at West Ham and make promotion at the first attempt a realistic target.

Because for all the talk of recruitment, the reality is that keeping hold of quality players is every bit as important as signing new ones.

And at the moment, that appears to be where much of the club’s focus lies.

Keeping Players Is The Priority

If Kretinsky can convince the players—and perhaps just as importantly, their agents—that West Ham remain a big club with deep enough pockets and genuine ambition, then the Hammers might stand half a chance of keeping enough quality to get out of the Championship at the first attempt.

After all, keeping what we’ve already got is probably going to provide a higher level of quality than anything we can realistically recruit this summer.