00:00As West Ham look ahead to a crucial summer, the scale of the task facing Graham Potter
00:08is becoming clear. While signs of progress were visible during his first half spell in charge,
00:15the squad needs reshaping if the Hammers are to move beyond mid-table ambitions.
00:22From defensive reinforcements to creative midfield depth, there are multiple areas demanding
00:28attention. Potter's philosophy requires intelligent, technical, adept players and this window is his
00:35chance to bring more of them through the door. But how far can West Ham go with the resources
00:42available and how much patience will be granted for the project to mature? It's a balancing act
00:49between evolution and expectation. We caught up with James Jones of London World to assess
00:57what's on the to-do list this summer and what must change for West Ham to take the meaningful
01:03steps forward.
01:06Yeah, and just on Lucas Paquette, I mean, obviously, he's maybe not shown his out-and-out best this
01:11season for West Ham, but the performance away at Liverpool, he was, you know, fairly remarkable
01:16even Arnie Schlotz said after the game how, you know, he's come over from Dutch football
01:21and he's realised how tough the Premier League is because, you know, teams linger around the
01:26bottom half of the table have these superstars still within their ranks. I mean, it's a big compliment
01:31from the manager who's going to go on to win the Premier League title. Just how important is Paquette
01:37when he is at his best? And, you know, it's obviously not been shown as much as it could have been
01:42this season, but surely he's a player that they really want to make sure they keep in the summer
01:46and can take West Ham forward next season.
01:50Yeah, well, obviously, Lucas Paquette's future is still a little bit up in the air. There are a lot of
01:55question marks over what's going to happen with Lucas Paquette off the pitch. His case with the FA has been
02:02adjourned until the end of the season, so we don't really know. If it comes out positively, then the club will
02:09no doubt be looking, ideally, be hoping to keep him. It's clear that Graham Potter likes him and he
02:16enjoys playing under Graham Potter. You know, he's been, he's played his best football since Graham Potter
02:21came into the team and his best performance this season was arguably against Liverpool at Anfield
02:25last weekend, where particularly in the second half, he ran the show. And yes, people, you know,
02:31many were pointing at his attempts to try and buy a free kick in the build-up to, in the lead-up
02:37to Liverpool's corner that got them the winner. But that's Paquette. He does things like that. We
02:41know he's done that for the last three years. He has moments like that where he tries to
02:46do something a bit silly or try and win a free kick. But 90% of the time, when he's on his day,
02:53he's one of the best players on the pitch. You know, he is, there's a reason why Manchester City
02:56wanted to pay 85 million pounds for him before everything came out about his spot-fixing allegations.
03:02So, he is a very, very important player for West Ham, a very important player for Graham Potter.
03:08And if we can keep him in that kind of form that we saw against Liverpool for the rest of the season,
03:11then he'll be a huge boost for us as we try and pick up as many points as possible, just to take a
03:16little bit of good feeling and a little bit of good positivity into the summer when that rebuild happens.
03:22If he does leave, then, you know, I think we can, he's had a fantastic three years at West Ham United.
03:30He was the guy that set up Jarrod Bowen in the Conference League final in the last minute to win us that trophy.
03:35So, West Ham fans love him. He's a frustrating player at times, but we know that on his day,
03:44and he was on his day against Liverpool last weekend, he's a fantastic footballer and an incredibly
03:49important player in this squad. So, it'll be interesting to see what happens with his case,
03:54with the FA. But it does make me wonder, and this is pure just in my opinion, that perhaps
04:02we might be looking at a more positive outcome on that given the form that he's in at the moment.
04:08He's had a lot of distractions this season, but it didn't seem like he had any distractions on Sunday.
04:12So, hopefully that's a good sign that we've got some positive news coming in May.
04:15But we'll see, we'll see. But at the moment, we just want to keep him, keep him in form,
04:21keep him playing like that, and hopefully it will help us start picking up some results.
04:26So, hopefully, if we can get him back to his very best between now and the end of the season, at least,
04:31then, you know, that's incredibly important. But no doubt, regardless of his form this year,
04:37regardless of his lack of output, his lack of numbers, there will be no doubt a lot of interest in him this summer.
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