West Ham United’s Emerson Palmieri is set to join Marseille, [Fabrizio Romano](https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1961922181304082757) confirmed, giving his ‘here we go’ following an agreement between the Hammers and the Ligue 1 side.
West Ham will receive a total package worth around €1 million, including add-ons, with the Irons granting Palmieri permission to travel and complete the transfer.
The move comes after the Hammers informed the 30-year-old earlier this summer that he was free to leave in the final year of his contract.
Palmieri had joined West Ham from Chelsea in 2022 and quickly became a regular under former boss David Moyes and his successors, amassing 113 appearances in claret and blue.
The Italian international was a key figure last season, featuring in 32 games. However, he was left out of the pre-season tour of the United States.
The arrival of new signings El Hadji Malick Diouf and Kyle Walker-Peters has added depth to the full-back positions, pushing Palmieri down the pecking order under manager Graham Potter.
Youngster Oliver Scarles is also viewed as a long-term option and could now step into a bigger role.
Letting Palmieri go will also ease the club’s wage bill, with the defender among the highest earners. His departure marks another significant change as Potter continues his rebuild.
They have parted ways with several stalwarts, including Palmieri, Michail Antonio, Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski, Vladimir Coufal, and Danny Ings.
On the surface, the West Ham hierarchy has done a decent job of refreshing the squad and shifting the ageing, declining players.
It may not have come at the scale the fans wanted, but the team is younger, has more legs in midfield, and should be better equipped to deliver the goods.
The ball is now in Potter’s court as he needs to galvanise this squad into a formidable unit.
They must put this rough start to the season behind them and show tangible progress under his leadership, proving that this summer’s bold rebuild was the right call.
_Stats from Transfermarkt_