Report’s claim could herald the come-back story of the summer at West Ham United

West Ham’s board have made it known in the last couple of days that they’d like nothing more than having Nuno Espírito Santo stay at the helm next season if the club has to mastermind a return to the Premier League.

I’ll be they do. Not so long ago, Claret and Hugh ran the story confirming that David Sullivan was still paying millions out in compensation for two managers that he’d hired and fired. Lopetegui and Potter may have got their marching orders but they were still on the payroll and costing as much as a top tier player.

The club can’t afford a third manager’s compensation. So they’ll surely hope Nuno walks rather than being pushed.

Which in my ill-informed humble opinion is highly likely. He’s a Premier League coach with a pedigree and we know how fast the clubs in the top tier burn through managers: He’ll be back in a top role within a couple of months. So why would he take a £2 million (est) pay cuts to stick at West Ham next season given all the -ahem-‘challenges’ presented by our owners and their debt issues.

Which opens the way for the comeback of the season as we suggested earlier, and now reported by footballinsider247.com, James Ward Prowse could be in line for a big job within West Ham’s reshaped midfield come August:”

“If they get relegated and Nuno moves on, that could open the door for him [Ward Prowse] to come back.

“Dropping down into the Championship could give him an opportunity to play more minutes, especially if the current midfield options are going to move on.

“Plus, they’ve got these financial issues that mean it could be difficult to bring in new players, so they could look to keep some of the fringe players around.

Tomas Soucek and James Ward Prowse reunited again in West Ham’s championship midfield. Who’d have thought it.

Doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing, does it.