This summer, West Ham United’s new manager Julen Lopetegui has to offload four players in particular.
Yesterday was the official announcement of Julen Lopetegui as the new West Ham manager. Tim Steidten, the director of football, informed the supporters how happy the Spaniard’s hiring should make us all feel.
In an apparent attempt to turn things around at the London Stadium, Lopetegui, 57, has already met with Steidten at a high level to discuss possible summer transfer targets.
The team that David Moyes left behind needs to be fixed immediately. It’s terribly imbalanced, lacking elite youth, aging full-backs, and no natural left wingers.
If our squad stays the same as it is currently, West Ham will have just seven first-team players under 29 at the beginning of the following season.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Lopetegui has to sign seven or eight elite players this summer who are still young.
You could counter that we actually need more new players than that, given the number of players who are expected to be traded this summer.
The quartet of West Ham players Sell, Julen Lopetegui must
There are simply too many Hammers players on the team, in my opinion, who don’t contribute anything for what they are paid.
The 2023–24 campaign’s second half was mostly supported by a few players who were experiencing extremely bad luck.
And if Lopetegui is to have any hope of having a fruitful tenure at the London Stadium, four of them in particular need to be let go.
Kurt Zouma is one player who has really disappointed me this season. The Frenchman was bizarrely named as the club captain at the start of the season, and it was clear to see that he wasn’t fit for that role.
The 29-year-old is completely shot physically, and is a shadow of the player he once was. The West Ham transfer team have to do everything in their power to move him on this summer.
Next up on the list is Nayef Aguerd. The Moroccan is nowhere near good enough to play Premier League football – he just doesn’t have the physical attributes required for the job.
The good news is that Marseille apparently want to sign him this summer, and the Hammers should still be able to fetch a decent fee for the 28-year-old.
The we have Tomas Soucek. Now, this is a tricky one, because the 29-year-old hasn’t been that bad for us this season, when it comes to his output. However, a Lopetegui system quite simply will not work with Soucek in the middle of the park.
The Czech Republic international is one of the worst passers in the Premier League, and he is totally lost when he receives the ball in tight spaces. Lopetegui likes his players to build up from the back and through central midfield. With that in mind, I have no doubts that Soucek needs to be moved on.
Finally, we come to Michail Antonio. The 34-year-old is definitely in the twilight years of his career now, and he recently admitted that he’s had numerous chances to leave West Ham.
If we are to move forward as a club and start to consistently challenge for honours, Lopetegui must make a big upgrade on the Jamaica international. He’s been a great servant for us over the past nine years, but the Hammers hierarchy cannot allow feelings of sentiment to cloud their judgement.
Hopefully Antonio will be moved on and replaced by TWO strikers – Youssef En-Nesyri and Serhou Guirassy would do the job nicely!
As much as some West Ham fans might not want to admit it, Julen Lopetegui must sell those four players mentioned above, if he is to succeed in charge of the Hammers.
Whether we will be able to get decent fees for them remains to be seen though.
