West Ham player who made 23 appearances last season admits admiration for different club amid transfer links
One West Ham star has been speaking about his future amid talk of a departure.
West Ham could be set to offload one of their recent signings this summer, and the player has now issued the latest on his future. The Hammers have a big summer ahead, and they are off to a slow start.
Graham Potter needs to put his own stamp on his squad as he looks to get off to a strong start to the new season, and he might just need to get off to a good start after a disappointing start to life at the London Stadium.
The Hammers were always going to give Potter time to turn things around, and the Englishman was always going to get money to put his own stamp on his squad, That hasn’t come to pass yet, but the summer transfer window is only now getting going, and it’s likely we will see business aplenty between now and the start of the new season at the London Stadium.
We could also see exits, and there are reports that Lucas Paquetá, Mohammed Kudus and Guido Rodriguez are all leading candidates to leave the club. Rodriguez only joined the club last summer on a free deal after his contract with Real Betis expired, and he went on to make 23 league appearances last season.
But Potter has not been impressed, and there have been reports aplenty claiming the Hammers are hoping to ship the Argentine out this summer. Any money West Ham make on Rodriguez will be profit, and there have already been a fair amount of links, including rumours involving River Plate.
Rodriguez was asked about his future this week, as covered by Estadio Deportivo, and he admitted his admiration for River Plate, but he denied that there have been any sort of transfer talks at this stage. He said: “I know it came up, that there was a lot of talk about it, but the truth is that no one contacted me, nor did I speak to anyone at the club. I really had no contact. (River Plate is) a top-level club worldwide, which has grown a lot in every sense.”
West Ham’s stance is understandable
Rodriguez is a solid player, although he hasn’t been his very best at Premier League level at this stage. Then again, you could argue that hardly any Hammers players did well last season - even if you took Mohammed Kudus’ season without knowing about the season that preceding it, there could be cause for concern.
But the bottom line is that Potter doesn’t seem to see the holding midfielder as part of his plans, and that’s not a big surprise given he was a Julen Lopetegui signing. Above Potter, West Ham are not going to contradict that view when, if Guido is sold, they can make a pure profit on the incoming fee to help fund Potter’s shopping this summer. It’s a sale that could suit all parties, but it will be interesting to see how much the Hammers can get for the midfielder.
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