Ings departure seems on the cards now. After a week in which there has been a lot of speculation regarding incoming West Ham targets, stories of £35 million offers made, multiple other deals apparently ‘in negotiation’, everything had gone very quiet in respect of one particular West Ham player and his possible summer exit: A week or so ago we were expecting a finalised deal for him to leave London Stadium but then it all went quiet:
That was, until a few hours ago.
According to news source ‘football insider’, Southampton are now pressing ahead with those plans having decided to re-sign former striker Danny Ings with a fee reported to be modest – in the £5 million plus range- but frankly I’m sure David Sullivan would Uber him down south for free if it got a player with a huge salary off our wage bill.
The 31 year old ex Saints, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Burnley and Bournemouth forward has only a year left to run on his contract – which means he’s depreciating fast almost by the day so any amount ‘banked’ is good business!
Ings was signed by Lopetegui’s predecessor for £12 million, but never seemed to gel. He clearly didn’t suit our style last year and presumably isn’t expected to be first or even second choice in the coming campaign.
This latest claim that he is headed back to Southampton this summer came after reports last week that he was ‘weighing up his options’ despite interest from his former club earlier in June. Not too sure he had many options available, realistically, except ‘stay and take the money’ or ‘leave, take a pay cut but play football’.
On a weekly wage at West Ham thought to be £125,000, any move will be for a far lower salary but at 31, most players would rather take the opportunity for a fresh start and actually getting off the bench and playing. Ings made only twenty appearances in the PL for West Ham in the 2023-4 season, 17 as a substitute, and scored one PL goal.
That will be a big chunk of cash freed from the wage bill to use for one (or more) of our new recruits plus £5 million added to the transfer kitty. Sensible all round, I’d say, and one which is quite likely to go through with little fuss – which will make a change!
