‘We will see’ – West Ham Super Fans react as Irons reportedly put contract talks on ice
This is part of a regular series from our panel of West Ham Super Fans. Each week, our Super Fans will deliver their verdicts on the biggest talking points and news stories around the London Stadium.
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In a bid to maintain their impressive run of form in the Premier League, West Ham have reportedly put all contract talks on ice.
According to the London Evening Standard, the Irons will not be discussing new deals with any of their players until the New Year “to prevent any distractions” from the pitch.
David Moyes side shot up to fifth in the Premier League standings with a 2-1 win against Aston Villa on Monday night with the Irons taking 17 points in their opening 10 games where they’ve played the likes of Arsenal, Wolves, Leicester, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool.
West Ham have a number of players who are going out of contract at the end of the season.
Mark Noble, Michail Antonio, Fabian Balbuena, Robert Snodgrass and Lukasz Fabianski could all, in theory, leave the club on a free transfer next summer.
West Ham are understood to have an option to extend Antonio’s deal by an extra year but the Evening Standard reports that talks have been held about a fresh contract for the in-form forward.
We asked our panel of West Ham Super Fans to react to the club’s stance on contract renewals but the majority believe that delaying contract negotiations until next month is a clever move.
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Two of the fans mentioned Balbuena, which is interesting because Brazilian football journalist Jorge Nicola reported recently that he’s attracted attention from Rio de Janeiro giants Flamengo.
However, Balbuena is an integral part of Moyes’ back-three with the Paraguay international playing in every single Premier League match since being an unused substitute in West Ham’s defeat to Arsenal in September.
As for Antonio, it seems that there’s little to worry about in regards to his future as the Hammers have the safety net of his year option.
Noble and Fabianski are the two other big worries but Noble is Mr West Ham – if he goes anywhere we would be well and truly shocked.
Fabianski, on the other hand, has done brilliantly at the London Stadium and could attract interest from elsewhere but his number one spot in East London is secure so why risk losing that?
In other West Ham news, Frank McAvennie has blasted VAR despite it working in West Ham’s favour in the win against Aston Villa.