Pellegrini: ‘The squad is almost ready’

Manuel Pellegrini has admitted his squad is almost ready but said he has two more weeks to decide on some things before the season starts.

The manager told the official West Ham website post-match “The squad is almost ready. We have a couple of weeks more to decide on some things before the season starts. We’re happy though. We have two players in each position and we already have more than one year working. We started last season with nine new players and, of course, a new manager. I hope we will improve again this season.”

Pellegrini has been given funds for one more squad player of his choice following the departure of Pedro Obiang and Marcus Browne but also he must decide whether he would allow Javier Hernandez to leave if a formal bid came in but more importantly whether he would have enough time to sign a striker replacement within budget.