The Premier League season is drawing to a close, and West Ham can still dictate the outcome of the title race as they face Manchester City on Sunday afternoon. But, for some Hammers players, this weekend’s game could well be the final time they put on the claret and blue, with five members of the senior squad set to be released on a free after their contracts come to an end next month.
It’s been a season of ups and downs for David Moyes’ side. The Hammers could still finish as high as eighth if results go their way over the next week, but could drop to tenth if Brighton win their remaining games. Meanwhile, West Ham bowed out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage, and their dalliance with European football will not continue next year.
Indeed, neither will Moyes’ association with the club. It was announced he will leave his post at the end of the season after almost seven years at the helm, with Julen Lopetegui set to replace him.
So, who will be joining him through the exit door this summer? Here are five players due to leave West Ham on a free transfer.
Michail Antonio
Striker
He may be West Ham’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League era, but it appears Michail Antonio’s time in East London is coming to an end next month. He’s been with the Hammers since 2015 and has 82 goals and 40 assists for the club in over 300 appearances. With returns like that, there are some who would describe Antonio as a West Ham legend, at least of the modern era.
A knee injury disrupted Antonio’s season this year, with the forward missing 12 games between November and February, but he’s still managed to register seven goals this term. There is an option for the club to trigger an automatic one-year extension on Antonio’s current deal, but that still hasn’t been activated yet. With Moyes on his way out of the club, there’s every chance Lopetegui will prefer to let Antonio move on and put his own stamp on the forward line with an upgrade in the forward line.
Aaron Cresswell
Left-back
Another very experienced head in this West Ham squad, Cresswell has been at the club even longer than Antonio and is now into his tenth year with the Hammers. The time has certainly come for the left-back to move on, though, as he has barely featured for David Moyes’ side this season. Cresswell has not been injured, he has simply been overlooked this term, with Emerson the preferred choice.
A move to Wolves fell through last summer, but with no extension lined up on his current deal, the Englishman will now get the chance to depart and find a new club to see out his final years in the game.
Ben Johnson
Right-back
A product of the famed West Ham academy, Ben Johnson showed plenty of promise in his early years with the first-team squad but has never been able to push on and become a regular starter for his boyhood club. It has been much of the same this year for the 24-year-old, with just over 500 minutes of Premier League action, and 13 instances of Johnson being left out of the match-day squad altogether.
It now looks highly likely Johnson will leave his boyhood club this summer, with the likes of Crystal Palace, Leeds United, and Rangers all linked with the full-back, though the latter are thought to have had an offer rejected. Reports suggest Johnson’s wage demands were not met by West Ham, and the decision was made to let his contract run down through to its expiry at the end of June.
Angelo Ogbonna
Centre-back
Yet another long-serving player in the West Ham ranks looks set to exit this summer, as Angelo Ogbonna prepares to call time on a nine-year stay in East London. Signed from Juventus in 2015, the Italian defender has proven to be a reliable figure in the Hammers’ backline over the years, and could play his 250th game for the club on Sunday against Manchester City.
Ogbonna has largely been resigned to being an unused substitute this season under Moyes, with just 11 league appearances all year. The 35-year-old signed a one-year contract extension last summer, but time now appears to be up for him at West Ham.
Joseph Anang
Goalkeeper
You’d be forgiven for not recognising this name. The Ghana-born, England youth international came through the academy at West Ham and has spent time on loan at clubs like Derby County, Stevenage, and St. Patrick’s. He has never made a senior appearance for West Ham, and admittedly, it’s incredibly unlikely that will change this weekend against Manchester City.
With Anang unable to show what he can do at West Ham, and his contract set to expire this summer, all signs point to the young goalkeeper moving on to pastures new and finding a club where he can play first-team football.
