Following on from all the speculation about manager David Moyes’ future, West Ham United fans now have confirmation that our Europa Conference League winning gaffer will be departing at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, and if the rumour mill is to be believed, former Wolverhampton Wanderers manager Julen Lopetegui is odds on favourite to be his eventual replacement.
If additional rumours prove to be true, it will not just be a managerial change in the dug out that we are set for this summer, as speculation has now long, albeit tentatively, linked Liverpool with having an interest in 23 year old versatile attacker Mohammed Kudus but as we go into a little bit of football down time, fans can still entertain themselves with play free online slots until the transfer action really starts.
Having come into the London Stadium at the start of the campaign from Dutch Eredivisie side Ajax, the 32 capped Ghanaian international was used by Moyes predominantly as an attacking right sided winger, but across the course of the current campaign he has featured in multiple other roles for us.
Having been signed for a reported £38 million transfer fee, the player ends his first season in England with 39 starting appearances to his name, with a further six showings from the substitutes bench across all competitions. In those games he contributed 13 goals, with a further six assists coming in the Premier League itself, and for his first proper taste of PL football, he has been impressive.
The links to Liverpool have been around for weeks, but with growing talk of a supposed release fee being built into his contract, it is now being claimed that we have confirmed the release fee does exist and that it would be roughly in the region of £85 million.
It has further been suggested that with a number of clubs now keeping tabs on him given his performance levels, Liverpool will make a more to activate that release clause, as they apparently want to steal a march on the likes of Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City who are also reportedly tracking him.
The £85 million claims do seem to be a little far fetched here, even given the season that he has had, with his goal contributions – particularly the way Lopetegui walked out of the Molineux – it seems unlikely he would want to start his time at the club by losing one of our biggest threats and assets.
Further complicating the claims, well respected journalist Fabrizio Romano has now gone on record as confirming that the speculation about the release fee is accurate, but he disputes whether or not it would come into play and be optional this summer – as it could well only kick into play later down the line given he signed an original five year deal with us, and this is the theory Romano seems to prefer.
West Ham have obviously not officially confirmed the speculated release clause, as from our point of view unless we are in a position where we absolutely have to cash in on him this year, there is absolutely no need to feed the current speculation and add to the uncertainty.
It would be completely counterproductive to trying to let a new gaffer bed in and make his own decisions and assessments of the players we have, when tallied to his preferred style of play, so he can make his proper judgement on what the year ahead could look like.
For now, we shall see if anything comes of it.
Image Source: unsplash.com