West Ham’s second highest earner could still leave soon claims top board source. The transfer window is closed but West Ham’s business may not be done yet in terms of incomings and outgoings it seems.
When Tim Steidten and Julen Lopetegui set out to overhaul West Ham’s squad they clearly meant business. The Hammers made nine signings in the summer window and the departures totalled 12 after confirmation of Kurt Zouma’s move to Saudi. Calos Soler arrived on loan from PSG as signing number nine.
But West Ham may not be done there. Lopetegui has made it clear he wants two senior players for every position.
West Ham’s second highest earner could still leave
However, the departure of Angelo Ogbonna, Thilo Kehrer’s permanent move to Monaco and the exits of Zouma and Nayef Aguerd have left him with just three centre-backs.
The Hammers head coach has suggested he is looking at the free agent market with a number of quality defenders out of contract.
West Ham would have until September 14th to bring any free agent in ahead of the deadline to submit final squad lists to the Premier League.
Players could yet leave too, though.
Despite the major revamp of the Hammers squad and the transfer window closing on Friday night, there is one extremely expensive star who has little hope of game time this season.
And West Ham’s second highest earner could still leave soon claims a top board source. £125k per week Ings exit remains on the cards
Striker Danny Ings reportedly snubbed offers from the likes of Southampton during the window. Things have simply not worked out for Ings at West Ham since he arrived in a £15m deal from Aston Villa in January 2023.
But Ings picks up a cool £125k per week – making him the best paid player at the London Stadium bar £150k per week Lucas Paqueta. Journalist Graeme Bailey told Hammers News that Ings’ refusal to leave hindered West Ham signing Jhon Duran.
It is debateable that Ings is even West Ham’s third-choice striker. Because if anything happened to Niclas Fullkrug or Michail Antonio then Jarrod Bowen or Mohammed Kudus would likely play there ahead of him.
So it is a ridiculous situation that West Ham’s fourth or fifth-choice forward is their second best paid. The Hammers were reportedly considering paying up Ings contract.
But now board source Sean Whetstone has claimed the 32-year-old could yet depart in the near future. Whetstone counts majority owner David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady among his close contacts at West Ham.
And he says the fact Ings was left out of the Hammers squad for Man City suggests he may be set to depart with clubs in other countries still able to sign players.
Misfit forward left out of Hammers squad
“Danny Ings could still depart West Ham after being left out of the match day squad on Saturday,” Whetstone said.
“The transfer window shut simultaneously in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France on Friday but not all UEFA markets are closed.
“Clubs in the Netherlands and Portugal have until Monday (September 2) to buy new players. With the Eredivisie and the Primeira Liga classed as UEFA’s sixth and seventh strongest leagues. The date is the same for Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Andorra, Malta, San Marino and Gibraltar. The window closes on Tuesday (September 3) in Hungary, Wednesday (September 4) in Moldova and Thursday (September 5) in Croatia and Austria.
“Quite a few markets remain open until Friday (September 6): most notably Belgium, UEFA’s eighth-strongest league, but also Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia and North Macedonia. And a whole week remains for clubs in Slovenia and Liechtenstein, whose windows close next Saturday (September 7).
“Later still, the Czech transfer window closes on September 8, while the windows in Switzerland, Romania and Cyprus are open until September 9. Clubs in Greece have until September 11 to sign new players. In Russia and Armenia, the window doesn’t shut until September 12. And a fairly big market to keep an eye on until September 13 is the Turkish transfer window, which closes on the same day as Serbia’s.
“Clubs in Azerbaijan have until September 16 and clubs in Israel (which despite its geographical location is part of UEFA) have until September 18.
