Football News: Where I would love to see West Ham United come the start of next Season part 2

Image from: freelargeimages.com

West Ham United have had a solid season, getting to the semi final of the Europa League, sitting in 7th place and still on for a possible 6th if results go our way and now is the time to push on. So, what does next season look like for the small and ageing squad we have?

We have a 24 man squad currently and this is what it looks like (Position - Name - Age - Preferred Foot - Contract Expiry):

GK - Alphonse Areola (on loan) - 28yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
GK - Darren Randolph - 34yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2023
GK - David Martin - 35yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
GK - Lukasz Fabianski - 36yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
CB - Angelo Ogbonna - 33yo - left footed - Jun 30, 2022
CB - Craig Dawson - 31yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2023
CB - Issa Diop - 24yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2023
CB - Kurt Zouma - 27yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2025
LB - Aaron Cresswell - 32yo - left footed - Jun 30, 2023
LB - Arthur Masuaku - 28yo - left footed - Jun 30, 2024
RB - Ben Johnson - 21yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
RB - Ryan Fredericks - 29yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
RB - Vladimir Coufal - 29yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2023
CM - Alex Kral (on loan) - 23yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
CM - Declan Rice - 22yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2024
CM - Manuel Lanzini - 28yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2023
CM - Mark Noble - 34yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2022
CM - Pablo Fornals - 25yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2024
CM - Tomas Soucek - 26yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2024
W - Andriy Yarmolenko - 32yo - left footed - Jun 30, 2022
W - Jarrod Bowen - 25yo - left footed - Jun 30, 2025
W - Nikola Vlasic - 24yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2026
W - Saïd Benrahma - 26yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2026
F - Michail Antonio - 31yo - right footed - Jun 30, 2025

Of the nine players in our squad with expiring contracts this summer (Areola, Martin, Fabianski, Ogbonna, Johnson, Fredericks, Kral, Noble and Yarmolenko) there are seven who are actually West Ham players with the other two being loan players. Of the two loan players, I would only look to sign Areola on a permanent deal for next season if PSG would contribute to wages.

I'd like to see us offer contract extensions to four of the seven with an expiring contract - Fabianski, Ogbonna and Johnson. With Martin offered an extension to his playing / mentoring of younger players contract as well (he is also a useful third choice keeper). The players whose contracts expire this summer that aren't offered new terms are Noble (who is retiring - all the best Nobes), Fredericks and Yarmolenko.

Personally, I would look to sell the players that are clearly not getting a look in with games. Randolph is currently the third choice keeper behind Fabianski and Areola, he isn't getting games and his contract expires at the end of next season, so get him off the books and sell while we can still get some money for him. Masuaku isn't terrible as a wing back or even a winger, but he is clearly a weak link in a back four and doesn't get considered if Cresswell is fit, there are better players out there in his position and in my opinion we might as well sell.

I think all of the above most would probably agree with, but this is where the contentious decisions start.

We all expected big things in January with Kretinsky purchasing a stake in the club, it didn't happen and to assume Kretinsky will simply pour hundreds of millions in to player investments in the Summer would be foolish. If reports are to be believed, we are going to have £150 million to play with in the Summer, which I am going to assume is as an accumulation of investor contributions and the revenue from television, our Premier League position and the Europa League run. I would actually sell a couple of the unexpected names to bolster the purse strings further this Summer too.

I don't see us selling players we've purchased or offered contract extensions to in the last year, so Dawson, Zouma, Coufal, Soucek, Benrahma, Vlasic and Antonio are all staying at the club, and it would be my preference not to sell the likes of Rice, Fornals and Bowen. so I am not even going to consider them. Now, we are already light in the left back department, made lighter by the fact I would sell Masuaku, so I also don't see us selling Cresswell either. Looking at our other 'assets' we've got Diop and Lanzini that we could potentially sell to raise money and if I am being honest, despite Lanzini' current form, I would sell both in the summer. which could give us an extra £20 million or so. Total budget for the summer would then stand at £170 million.

If we could replenish the squad with a couple of free agents, a couple of loan deals and a couple of purchases; bringing in a mixture of young and hungry players with potential and experienced players to boot, I'd be delighted.

Obviously we are going to be linked to a host of players in each position, but I have compiled a list of players that I think we should look at signing. There are a mixture of players with expiring contracts that we could sign without a transfer fee and players that would need purchasing. I'd like to point out, I am not saying we should sign all of these players, I am not saying we will even look at these players, but these are the players I would look at if I were making the decisions. It is all my opinion and although I have tried to be realistic, I have put in a few names that I think will in all honesty be out of our reach due to other clubs interested, I have indicated the players I see as priority targets I think we should go all out for (Position - Name - Age - Preferred Foot - Current Club):

GK - Alphonse Areola - 28yo - right footed - PSG - PRIORITY TARGET
GK - Andre Onana - 26yo - right footed - Ajax ***Contract Expiring***
GK - Sam Johnstone - 28yo - right footed - West Brom ***Contract Expiring***
CB - Attila Szalai - 24yo - left footed - Fenebache
CB - Dan Axel-Zagadou - 22yo - left footed - Borussia Dortmund ***Contract Expiring***
CB - Duje Caleta-Car - 25yo - right footed - Marseille
CB - James Tarkowski - 29yo - right footed - Burnley ***Contract Expiring*** - PRIORITY TARGET
CB - Joško Gvardiol - 19yo - left footed - RB Leipzig
CB - Nathan Ake - 26yo - left footed - Manchester City
CB - Nikola Milenkovic - 24yo - right footed - Fiorentina
CB - Sven Botman - 21yo - left footed - Lille
LB - Aaron Hickey - 20yo - left footed - Bologna - PRIORITY TARGET
LB - Borna Sosa - 24yo left footed - Stuttgart
LB - Tyrick Mitchell - 22yo - left footed - Crystal Palace
RB - Max Aarons - 22yo - right footed - Norwich
RB - Tariq Lamptey - 21yo - right footed - Brighton
CM - Billy Gilmour - 20yo - right footed - Chelsea
CM - Boubacar Kamara - 22yo - right footed - Marseille ***Contract Expiring***
CM - Christian Eriksen - 30yo - right footed - Brentford ***Contract Expiring***
CM - Conor Gallagher - 22yo - right footed - Chelsea - PRIORITY TARGET
CM - Kalvin Phillips - 26yo - right footed - Leeds - PRIORITY TARGET
CM - Yves Bissouma - 25yo - right footed - Brighton
W - Keane Potter-Lewis - 20yo - right footed - Hull
W - Noni Madueke - 19yo - right footed - PSV
W - Raphinha - 25yo - right footed - Leeds
F - Adam Hlozek - 19yo - right footed - Sparta Prague
F - Andrea Belotti - 28yo - right footed - Torino ***Contract Expiring*** - PRIORITY TARGET
F - Eddie Nketiah - 22yo - right footed - Arsenal ***Contract Expiring***
F - Jesse Lingard - 29yo - right footed - Manchester United ***Contract Expiring*** - PRIORITY TARGET
F - Jonathan David - 21yo - two footed - Lille
F - Patrik Schick - 25yo - left footed - Bayer Leverkusen

Quick Side Note - if any of these players already have an agreement in place to join another club, then apologies, I wasn't aware.

If we were successful with all of these priority targets, we'd be signing three players as free agents (Tarkowski, Belotti and Lingard) and purchasing four players (Areloa, Hickey, Gallagher and Phillips) which I don't see being unrealistic with a budget of £170 million, although I admit, my knowledge of the financial intricacies involved in transfer are limited (Position - Name - Age - Preferred Foot):

GK - Alphonse Areola - 28yo - right footed
GK - David Martin - 35yo - right footed
GK - Lukasz Fabianski - 36yo - right footed
CB - Angelo Ogbonna - 33yo - left footed
CB - Craig Dawson - 31yo - right footed
CB - James Tarkowski - 29yo - right footed
CB - Kurt Zouma - 27yo - right footed
LB - Aaron Cresswell - 32yo - left footed
LB - Aaron Hickey - 20yo - left footed
RB - Ben Johnson - 21yo - right footed
RB - Vladimir Coufal - 29yo - right footed
CM - Conor Gallagher - 22yo - right footed
CM - Declan Rice - 22yo - right footed
CM - Kalvin Phillips - 26yo - right footed
CM - Pablo Fornals - 25yo - right footed
CM - Tomas Soucek - 26yo - right footed
W - Jarrod Bowen - 25yo - left footed
W - Nikola Vlasic - 24yo - right footed
W - Saïd Benrahma - 26yo - right footed
F - Andrea Belotti - 28yo - right footed
F - Jesse Lingard - 29yo - right footed
F - Michail Antonio - 31yo - right footed

With that squad, we would have a solid starting XI and decent players in each position to rotate the team.

Areloa
Fabianski
Martin

Coufal Zouma Ogbonna Cresswell
Johnson Dawson Tarkowski Hickey

Phillips

Gallagher Rice
Fornals Soucek

Bowen Lingard
Vlasic Benrahma

Antonio
Belotti

Written by DIE_4_WHUFC May 13 2022 11:37:40