West Ham United have already been looking in great detail at the January transfer market: Midfield recruits and the mythical under 30 year old striker must take priority. It is suggested across differing sources today that ‘various players’ want out of the club after the turbulent five months of Lopetegui-ball.
Joining the dots on what we already know, there would seem some ‘likely deals’ which could be done in the January window to free up space in the squad. Let’s get this clear early on, this is opinion rather than based on ITK comment.
Unlike the August window, technical director Tim Steidten will need to show his skill at selling rather than just spending David Sullivan’s cash. The club have maintained that player exits need to happen both to provide the budget but also to free up the payroll:
Nayef Aguerd £20 million currently on loan at Real Sociedad: Is apparently also being looked at by Real Madrid. Either club could easily part with the cash to make his loan permanent.
Edson Alvarez – £30 million -the red card liability has often hinted he is open to a move to a big club: Time to offload.
Guido Rodriguez £10 million – send him back whence he came. Enough said,.
Niclas Fullkrug £15 million – if we are lucky – on past performance he’d probably get back into a Bundesliga squad.
Michail Antonio £2 million – if we believe the Galatasaray rumours of today. A loan striker would be just as effective but probably younger.
This is without the ‘nuclear option’ of a sale of Mohammed Kudus which could be done at £85 million in January: My guess is that his agitation for a move in January will depend on the head coach’s identity come the opening of the window. Rumours this week have linked others such as Vlad Coufal and Tomas Soucek with moves away.
Providing upgrades come in, I’m not sure any of these squad players might be off limits. I’m not working out the ‘losses’ on purchase prices, that’d be too depressing. Remember that their value is amortised over the length of service, so some won’t show as loss.
The job- appeal to any prospective ‘incoming’ Lopetegui replacement will be far greater knowing that the squad can be freshened and the gaping midfield shortcomings at least can be addressed in January with that kind of budget. So when the club states ‘ no budget for new signings unless players are offloaded’ – don’t be too downhearted. All things are possible.
