New West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui must sell four players in particular this summer.
Julen Lopetegui was officially announced as the new West Ham boss yesterday, and Director of Football Tim Steidten told the fans just how excited we should all be about the appointment of the Spaniard.
Lopetegui, 57, apparently has big plans to shake things up at the London Stadium, and has already held high level meetings with Steidten about his potential transfer targets for the summer.
David Moyes has left behind a squad that is in urgent need of fixing. It’s extremely unbalanced, with no natural left wingers, ageing full-backs and a lack of top quality youth.
West Ham will have just seven first-team players under the age of 29 at the start of next season, if our squad remained the same as it is now.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to see that Lopetegui needs to sign at least seven or eight top quality players with youth on their side this summer.
However, you could argue we need even more new additions than that, especially when taking into account how many players will be sold this summer…
The four West Ham players Julen Lopetegui must sell
In my opinion, there are just too many Hammers players amongst the squad who offer little compared to what they’re being paid.
The second half of the 2023/24 campaign was underpinned by certain players going through a run of really poor form.
And four of them in particular need to be moved on if Lopetegui is to have any chance of enjoying a successful spell in charge at the London Stadium.
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.
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