West Ham’s top players may be heading out of London Stadium as the club prepares for a summer transfer overhaul

National World - LocalTV

As West Ham gear up for an important summer, the challenge ahead for Graham Potter is coming into sharp focus. Though there were encouraging signs during his debut season, it’s clear the squad requires significant changes to push beyond mid-table aspirations.  From strengthening the defence to adding creativity in midfield, several key areas need addressing.

Transcript

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.

01:05Yeah, 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 fairly remarkable, even

01:16Arnie Schlotz said after the game, how he's come over from Dutch football and he's realised

01:21how tough the Premier League is because, you know, teams, Linger Schwinn, around the bottom half of the

01:26table, have these superstars still within their ranks. I mean, it's a big compliment from the manager

01:32who's going to go on to win the Premier League title. Just how important is Paquette when he is at his

01:38best and, you know, it's obviously not been shown as much as it could have been this season, but

01:43surely he's a player that they really want to make sure they keep in the summer and can take West Ham

01:48forward next season.

01:51Yeah, well, obviously, Lucas Paquette's future is still a little bit up in the air. There are a lot

01:55of question marks over what's going to happen with Lucas Paquette off the pitch. His case with

02:01the FA has been adjourned until the end of the season, so we don't really know. If it comes out

02:08positively, then the club will no doubt be looking, ideally, be hoping to keep him. It's clear that

02:14Graham Potter likes him and he enjoys playing under Graham Potter. You know, he's played his

02:19best football since Graham Potter came into the team and his best performance this season was

02:23arguably against Liverpool at Anfield last weekend, where particularly in the second half, he ran the

02:27show. And yes, people, you know, many were pointing at his attempts to try and buy a free

02:34kick in the lead up to Liverpool's corner that got them the winner. But that's Paquette. He does

02:41things like that. We know he's done that for the last three years. He has moments like that where

02:45he tries to do something a bit silly or try and win a free kick. But 90% of the time, when he's on

02:52his day, he's one of the best players on the pitch. You know, there's a reason why Manchester City wanted

02:57to pay £85 million for him before everything came out about his spot-fixing allegations. So

03:03he is a very, very important player for West Ham, a very important player for Graham Potter. And if we

03:08can keep him in that kind of form that we saw against Liverpool for the rest of the season, then

03:12he'll be a huge boost for us as we try and pick up as many points as possible, just to take a little

03:17bit 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 he's had a fantastic three years at West Ham United. He was

03:30the guy that set up Jarrod Bowen in the Conference League final in the last minute to win us that

03:35trophy. So 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,

04:30at least, then, you know, that's incredibly important. But no doubt, regardless of his form

04:37this year, regardless of his lack of output, his lack of numbers, there will be no doubt a lot of interest

04:42and in this this summer.

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