West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has called for his players to earn their places ahead of the new campaign as the Hammers pre-season tour of Europe comes to a close.
The Hammers have now played all but two of their organised pre-season fixtures, and will take on first Altona 93 and secondly Manchester City in the coming days before returning to England with little over a week left before the kick off of the 2017/18 Premier League campaign.
West Ham take on Manchester United on August 13, and manager Slaven Bilic is to name an 18-man-squad for the tie, 7 less than he took on the club’s pre-season tour of Europe.
Ahead of the fixture, the Croatian has urged his players to stake their claim in his squad.
“All the players are happy now,” Bilic observed, speaking on whufc.com. “It’s a pre-season and it’s the same in every club – they train brilliantly and all that and they are all hoping they are going to play and be starters in our team.
“Then, of course, only eleven or maybe 14 will think ‘I’m there’ probably, almost definitely, some players will notice that they are not regulars in the beginning of the season, so maybe a few of them will not be happy and some of them will ask for a move, so we’ve got to be ready for that.”
“It’s my job to think about the team first and foremost and you have to expect these things to happen in every club. When it happens, you have to be ready with some players that are interesting for us and who are not going to be regulars at their clubs!”
