Whether or not the Hammers decide to sell off some of their top quality talent in the summer will largely be dictated by the outcome of the next nine games. If the club stays in the Premier League there will be enormous pressure on chairman David Sullivan to keep hold of the club’s biggest young stars.
Pressing ahead with sales to balance the books could cause fury to exceed anything that’s gone before if West Ham pull off the Great Escape 2.0 yet find their chairman negotiating to sell Crysencio Summerville, Jarrod Bowen or Mateus Fernandes.
West Ham fans have had to endure the sale of Mohammed Kudus to arch rivals Spurs and the sale of want-away Paquetá in the last twelve months. However if the club end up in the Championship then all bets are off and there is likely to be a 2003-style exodus.
Somewhat depressingly considering it is just March and there are nine games and three months before the opening of the summer window, the Media speculation has already begun.
Fernandes – impressive performances attracting interest from top sides in the Premier League and beyond
Reports today suggest Mateus Fernandes is in the crosshairs of several top clubs having produced eye-catching form that has kept him at the top of the “wonderkid rankings” for several weeks.
According to Teamtalk, Fernandes’ value is already rocketing:
“Arsenal want to sign £65m-rated West Ham midfielder who is ‘ideal’ for Mikel Arteta’s ‘rotation’ .
In a separate article, ‘Sportsboom’ go in a different direction, claiming:
“Man Utd Advancing in Pursuit of West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes with Price Set..
Should Manchester United or another giant become serious about a transfer, West Ham is expected to open negotiations in the €65M–€75 million range. This figure is nearly triple the cost of his arrival from Sporting CP.
Manchester United’s need for a creative and resilient presence in midfield aligns perfectly with Fernandes’ profile.
Whilst suggesting all may not be doom and gloom for West Ham fans just yet, surviving in the Premier League this season might yet keep Fernandes in Claret and Blue a wee while longer:
“West Ham may aim to keep the player for one more year to push his valuation toward the €100 million mark”
Which sounds a whole lot better to me.
Media speculation. You couldn’t make it up.
I’ve heard that top European Champions sides are ready for a big bidding war for the signature of Maximillian Kilman. We are going to struggle to resist these offers. We might have to build our team around someone else. Good luck with this one, Nuno.
Fernandes has for most months this season been the best midfielder in the league, £65-75 million wouldn’t even touch the sides he is worth more than we sold Rice for.
We need to stop selling our best talents! Look what happened when we sold rice we looked a shadow of the team that won the conference league! Sullivan has to understand that we need to improve the team not weaken it ! I won’t be renewing my season ticket if we go down this slippery path again! We as fans pay good money and are sick of the way the clubs run! All Sullivan does is mortgage the training ground and incoming transfer funds at a high interest loan taken against them because he won’t inject funds into his football club like other chairmen do! The fans suffer even though they are promised champions league football and challenging for trophies every year.Its all smoke and mirrors to placate the fan base. SULLIVAN LEAVE OUR CLUB PLEASE !!!
We are and always will be a selling club. Kudus was the most recent example (and Paqueta would have gone to City but for the betting debacle). When have we ever kept our best players. Any club outside of the top guns are a selling club, how long we keep a player depends on how much money we’re making and therefore our ‘need’ to sell. I imagine this summer even the kit man will be sold if we can sneek a few bucks out of it!
On the basis the Audited Accounts stated even if we stay up, we will still need to:
a) sell to manage cash flow
b) sell to buy players
This isn’t idol speculation, this is a formal statement from the Board that has to be reviewed by the Auditors.
It can only be educated guesswork on the value of the sales required, as the published accounts will be a full year old by the end of the season, but the Board will (should!) have an accurate figure given both main revenue streams (TV/season tickets) and main outgoings (players wages) are known by the time the statement in the Accounts was made.
I can’t stand all this negativity about selling players. there are enough games left for us to get out of the bottom three. As long as we play as a team which we are doing then we will get out. There is also a possibility that Man City will be deducted 40 to 60 points before the end of the season (if there is any justest that is) lets look on the bright side for once. This team can do it.
Well said Hammer. Looks like we’re already on the job.
If we harbour any ambitions as a club, the team must be built around him. Simple. In my most humble opinion he will go on to become one of the finest players in world football. He posseses absolutely everything required for this transition and is remarkably still only 21.
These are the decisions that define a chairman’s reign, but we already know the answers to any questions in that regard regrettably, don’t we?