With Declan Rice about to leave for big money, West Ham are likely to have a sizeable transfer budget once again.
But this time the club must ensure they get the next phase of their rebuild right.
Kudos to David Moyes who pledged to assemble a new-look West Ham built around a core of British players with an emphasis on young, quick, agile stars hungry to prove themselves at the top level.
That was apparent when the Irons moved to pick off the cream of Championship talent like Jarrod Bowen and Flynn Downes.
But now almost certain of Premier League tenure, it means the Hammers can start to target the best players from those being relegated from the top flight.
And they don’t come much better than Harvey Barnes at the seemingly doomed Leicester City. It is being reported that Barnes is uncertain about signing a new deal at Leicester and that he will be sold this summer. 
If that is the case West Ham must take advantage as he’d be perfect and is not a major wage earner.
Barnes is perhaps one of the most under rated players in the Premier League as he can play across the front line.
Without doubt a move to West Ham would surely prove attractive to the attacker for multiple reasons.
The lure of London, playing in front of the fifth highest attendance in world football every other week, a major increase on his 40k per week wages and hopefully Europa League football.
The prospect of Barnes and Bowen either side a central striker would be a tantalising prospect for West Ham.
If Leicester go down, the Hammers must be ready to pounce.
Firstly in response to Gonzo, I hope that West Ham are totally mercenary in their transfer dealings regarding Declan. Of course he’s going to be a tremendous loss which can only be mitigated by obtaining the best price possible and then using the funds to purchase the best player available. Kalvin Phillips is not the answer. His injury record should disqualify him immediately and the fact that Pep clearly doesn’t rate him just confirms his lack of suitability.
Secondly in response to Simon Leyland, I couldn’t agree more. If Harvey Barnes is available, then he would make an excellent addition to the squad with his proven record as a versatile goal-scorer.
I’d prefer West Ham to sign players released from Premier League clubs like Chelsea than the few that can be found in the Championship. Chelsea must be coninually kicking themselves for letting go De Bruyne, Salah and Lukaku – who they eventually bought back for megabucks – plus more recently, young players such as Lamptey, Ake, Traore, Musiala, Nketiah and whilst even younger, our own Declan Rice.