Football.London’s West Ham correspondent Sam Inkersole has named a list of seven players he believes are likely to leave the club this summer.
After finishing 10th following a 4-1 thrashing of Watford on the final day, it is now expected that Manuel Pellegrini will orchestrate a fairly comprehensive clear out in East London before the new campaign, and Inkersole has been quick to name the potential victims of the Chilean’s exodus.
During a Q&A for Football.London, he said:”In terms of players leaving, you look at Pedro Obiang, Lucas Perez, Reece Oxford, Sam Byram and Andy Carroll as players likely to go if the right offer comes in.
“Carroll is obviously off, Adrian probably as well.
“Then you’ve got Javier Hernandez who could leave if the offer matches the valuation as well.”
OPINION
Ordinarily if a journalist with as much knowhow as Inkersole turned round and said that a club were about to lose seven first team players, there would be panic on the streets outside the ground. Instead, however, given the level of rejuvenation that the Hammers need to undergo if they are to realise their ambitions of becoming a top, top club, this will probably be met with a fair amount of joy from supporters. None of those players named will be heavily missed. The closest one could well be Javier Hernandez, but it would be a huge shock if the Hammers didn’t make big moves to try and sign quality centre forward this summer, and selling the little Mexican could go a long way towards funding that kind of switch, and freeing up a decent portion of the wage bill too. Whether Inkersole’s prophecy comes true or not, you can bet that the Irons have a busy summer ahead of them.
