A journalist claims a reported West Ham target and Will Salthouse client has said his goodbyes to teammates at his current club.
The first order of business for incoming new West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui is to oversee a major rebuild.
Lopetegui has been working in the background with technical director Tim Steidten ahead of his official unveiling next week.
The former Wolves boss will be well aware of the task at hand.
The Spaniard is inheriting the top flight’s thinnest squad with West Ham having registered just 22 senior players with the Premier League.
It is also the second oldest as things stand. And 22 will be come 16 if and when six out of contract players depart this summer.
That’s before taking into account any additional departures with speculation rife around the likes of Lucas Paqueta and Nayef Aguerd to name but two.
One of the players set to leave the Hammers on a free is academy graduate Ben Johnson. The right-back has failed to establish himself as a regular starter and has carved out an unwelcome niche as a back-up utility player.
Right-back a top priority for West Ham
Johnson is expected to join Crystal Palace as a free agent according to the likes of Give Me Sport.
Many fans already felt West Ham have needed to sign a pacy, younger new right-back to compete and share the load with Vladimir Coufal.
Now Johnson’s expected departure makes that an absolute necessity.
West Ham have been heavily linked with a host of right-backs in the last year.
But none more so than Man United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
The Croydon-born 26-year-old is regarded as one of the best defensive full-backs in the Premier League.
He has a great engine to get up and down the pitch too.
Wan-Bissaka has been linked with West Ham in each of the last three windows.
Interestingly the main club competing for his signature – as confirmed by Fabrizio Romano – was Wolves who were managed by none other than Lopetegui at the time.
With that as context, a major new development will no doubt interest West Ham ahead of the summer window.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka of Manchester United in action during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal FC at Old Trafford on May 12…
Hammers target Wan-Bissaka has said his goodbyes
A journalist claims the West Ham target and Will Salthouse client has said his goodbyes at Man United.
Wan-Bissaka still has a year left on his Man United contract after this summer.
But the Red Devils clearly intend to sell the longstanding Hammers and Lopetegui target.
That’s if a claim from The Sun’s Neil Custis is true.
The reporter says Man United have told Wan-Bissaka he will be sold this summer and he said his farewells to Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Custis also claims a T-shirt was printed as a farewell gesture in Wan-Bissaka’s honour with an image of him lifting the Carabao Cup.
The report also states Man United are willing to listen to ‘cut-price offers’ for a player who cost them £45m.
Salthouse client was wanted by Lopetegui
An extra layer of intrigue is added given Wan-Bissaka is a client of Will Salthouse’s Unique Sports Group agency.
Salthouse is close friend with the son of West Ham majority owner David Sullivan.
And he is believed to have played an influential role in Lopetegui being appointed as David Moyes’ replacement, as reported on Hammers News previously.
West Ham are under big pressure to sign players who tick the Premier League’s homegrown status box this summer.
The 25-man squads have eight places reserved for homegrown players while the remaining 17 places can be used by either homegrown or foreign players.
Wan-Bissaka would obviously count towards that quota for the Hammers should they sign him.
