West Ham United head coach Julen Lopetegui has a big decision to make this summer, regarding one of our under-performing players.
Julen Lopetegui has already made three new signings for West Ham this summer, but he needs to make many more if we are to compete on all fronts this season.
However, in order to bring in more players, the Spaniard has to move on a few Hammers who’ve failed to meet the required standards first.
Lopetegui allegedly has a summer transfer budget of around £90 million this summer, excluding player sales.
There are numerous players who could be up for the chop, especially when taking into account some of the downright awful performances from some of them last season.
David Moyes made some brilliant signings during his four-and-a-half year tenure at the London Stadium, but he made some terrible ones as well.
Now Lopetegui has the task of remedying some of those errors.
First thing’s first, the Spaniard has to sell one Hammer in particular who has desperately failed to live up to expectations at the London Stadium.
Julen Lopetegui must sell lightweight £17m West Ham man
The Spaniard has a huge task on his hands this season, with Tim Steidten and the board having set him the remit of getting the Hammers back inside the top six.
That obviously won’t be easy, considering just how much quality is in the Premier League these days.
However, it’s definitely doable, as long as Lopetegui makes four or five top-class signings between now and the end of next month.
The first thing he may have to do is move on some of the under-performers though…
Maxwel Cornet is someone who Lopetegui definitely should be looking to move on in the summer transfer window.
He was heavily linked with an exit from the Hammers in January, but he remained at the London Stadium in the end.
Cornet was really poor during our pre-season friendly clash with Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday.
The 27-year-old winger looked incredibly lightweight, and if he can’t hack it against National League opposition, then he has no chance of making a difference for us in the Premier League.
Signed for £17 million by David Moyes in 2022, the Ivory Coast international has endured a torrid time at the London Stadium.
He has played just 957 minutes of football for the Hammers, since joining us from Burnley just under two years ago.
Cornet clearly wasn’t favoured by Moyes, but Lopetegui has made it clear that he’s prepared to give everyone a chance during pre-season.
That said, the Spaniard must have been thoroughly underwhelmed with the former Burnley man’s display against the Daggers three days ago.
Considering the fact that Julen Lopetegui hasn’t got an endless pot of money at his disposal this summer, he definitely should consider cashing in on West Ham winger Maxwel Cornet.
The problem is, if we do sell him it will only be for peanuts, taking into account just how poor he’s been for us over the past two years.
The 27-year-old is incredibly injury prone as well, and he missed around five months of action during the 2022/23 season.
I just can’t see many clubs committing to a transfer fee worth more than £5 million for Cornet this summer unfortunately. Still though, Lopetegui should sell him regardless.
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