By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham insider ExWHUEmployee has claimed in his latest update that outgoing defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka effectively ‘downed tools’ during pre-season.
The right-back is due for his medical at Villa Park today following yesterday’s agreement which will see him initially join Aston Villa on loan.
Fabrizio Romano described the subsequent purchase clause as ‘mandatory’, although, as Matt wrote earlier this morning, it’s not quite as simple as that, with some wriggle room should Villa wish to escape from the deal.
But what is clear is that AWB was never going to feature prominently for West Ham this season and, realistically, it all stems from the last campaign.
Because whilst the former Manchester United man might have downed tools, there was really no way back for him with Nuno Espírito Santo.
There was no way back for AWB at West Ham under Nuno
Wan-Bissaka’s West Ham decline
Following DR Congo’s qualification for the World Cup, Wan-Bissaka did not return directly to club duty.
Instead, he returned to Congo to attend a presidential party as the country celebrated their qualification.
Naturally, this did not sit well with Nuno and that was pretty much the last we saw of Wan-Bissaka as West Ham’s first-choice right-back.
The warning signs had been there for some time. Back in May, Claret & Hugh reported that Wan-Bissaka’s form and apparent interest had dropped alarmingly during the second half of the season.
By July, a summer departure was already looking increasingly likely as Nuno and Nils Koppen began reshaping the squad.
It was always the case that the Hammers were going to get rid of the Will Salthouse client during this transfer window, which is precisely why his replacement, Joel Veltman, was one of the first names through the London Stadium revolving door.
Indeed, Veltman’s impending arrival was being discussed alongside the probable sale of Wan-Bissaka before the Dutchman had even signed.
No way back under Nuno
To be fair to Ex, I don’t believe he is claiming that Wan-Bissaka downed tools specifically to engineer a move away from West Ham.
Let’s be fair, that was happening anyway.
But it’s quite clear that all parties had decided there was no future for him at the London Stadium.
That’s a massive shame given his first season in East London, where he won Hammer of the Year.
But if we’re honest, during his second campaign he was barely recognisable from the swashbuckling, marauding right-back we’d watched during his first.
West Ham now appear to have found him a new home and Wan-Bissaka gets his return to the Premier League.
Given how badly the relationship with Nuno appears to have deteriorated, a parting of the ways probably suits everyone.
I would rather ‘fall out’ with Nuno the football manager than with The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo especially if I was Congolese and a national hero.
A professional toddler. So impressive.
It’s the likes of his attitude that got us into the Championship. That and Nuno.
Sorted no good having a bad influence on the squad , take the money and reinvest
Nuno as well as being tactically inept falls out with a lot of players. Can’t always be the players at fault, Nuno clearly has poor man management skills. Can’t wait to see the back of him
I’m always surprised in these situations that another club wants the player? If you know that a player has “downed tools” at his current club doesn’t that tell you something about his attitude? And that when the going gets tough, he’ll hide? Some of these players believe that they are too good for the Championship – perhaps if they’d done their job in the Premier League they wouldn’t find themselves playing for a Championship club.
One day, when playing careers are over and it is time to write autobiography’s, we will hear the flip side of these stories of rebellion in the ranks. This allegedly unprofessional behaviour has become the norm at West Ham and as I said yesterday, Nuno is the only constant. There is no reasoning with him, no sit down and let’s sort out what is really the root cause. I watch him every game and he is so insecure, he has no confidence in himself never mind anyone else. Until someone in the boardroom gives a hoot, this is how it is going to be, so “Who is next on Nun’s naughty list?” I wish it would be Bowen, but he is too much of a “company man”, otherwise that would be a power struggle worth watching.
the only worrying thing about this is that he could possibly end up back here. Not surprised with the ridiculous 7 year contract that took him up until he’s 80!
There were rumours at Man u that he was a wrongun, he’s just proven that to be correct.
let’s hope we never see him in our claret and blue,
Everyone seems to fall out with Nuno at some point. Maybe Nuno is the problem and not the players!
Surely the so called manager should be called out for his lack of man management as his job is to deal with spoiled awkward players .he had three players worth 100 million between them looking on last Sunday because he doesn’t speak to them .
Good that Matt has better sources than Romano. Who would have known?
Amongst other things Nuno’s man management, team spirit & tactical skills have got to be questionable. There is no doubt in my mind Harry Redknapp would have been a lot better with these critical aspects even at his age
I couldn’t disagree more. These players simply don’t take any responsibility and know that clubs can’t afford to have a player around doing nothing or be upsetting the camp. Harry would now struggle either these players. We all could have predicted the exact players that we knew weren’t going to stick around and tough it out.
The truth is the clubs transfer policy has been appalling for a good few years and if we’re honest the relegation presents several problems but it also presents opportunities that wouldn’t be there had we stayed up. The opportunity to cast off players that prove themselves off poor characters when the chips are down. You try getting these type of players off of big contracts when their happy to play in the premier league, but still not pulling their weight. It presents the opportunity to sign hungrier players willing to prove themselves.
Not mercenaries.
Hope he was fined a substantial part of his wages if this is true. It seems these days players can ignore contractual obligations when it suits them.
For us fans if we behaved like that in our jobs the outcome would be significantly different!
What I find hard to understand is, like Todibo, Aaron has a signed contract which agrees his wages in return for playing for West Ham. If they refuse to do their job, why should they still get paid? If we tried that at work we’d be out on our ear!
In order for him to down tools he’d have needed to pick them up first.
Lazy, miserable, disinterested and a liability. Not a great appraisal of his time here is it.