West Ham United made a big mistake when they decided to splash the cash on Soungoutou Magassa in the final days of the summer transfer window and they should already be seeking buyers ahead of sanctioning his quickfire departure from the London Stadium at the end of the season.
The early stages of the season have not gone to plan for the Hammers as, despite registering back-to-back wins against Newcastle United and Burnley before the international break, they are still in the Premier League's relegation zone and Nuno Espirito Santo replaced the sacked Graham Potter as head coach in September.
But Magassa is still struggling to secure regular game time in a West Ham shirt and, having been forced to contend with a regular spot on the bench, it would not come as a surprise if he has already challenged his representatives to identify potential exit routes ahead of 2026.
Magassa Has Not Lived Up to Hammers' Expectations
Soungoutou Magassa
There is no doubt that Magassa has turned out to be a waste of money, after being unable to make himself one of the first names on the team sheet at West Ham, and Nuno should attempt to sell him at the end of the season due to continuing to overlook him despite also freezing out fellow central midfielder James Ward-Prowse.
The 22-year-old joined the Hammers in a deal worth more than £17million in August, when the east Londoners were desperately scouring the market for additional protection in front of their backline after conceding a combined total of eight goals in their opening two clashes of the season against Sunderland and Chelsea.
But Magassa, who was bought by then-head coach Potter, has struggled to win over Nuno. He has found himself behind the likes of Mateus Fernandes and Freddie Potts in the pecking order, while the former Nottingham Forest chief made the decision to bring Tomas Soucek on when the latter sustained an injury during last weekend's win over Burnley.
Although the Frenchman eventually came on in the latter stages, he has found game time hard to come by and has not been included in the starting line-up since the stalemate with Everton in September, highlighting that the early months of his London Stadium career have been difficult.
Nuno's cutthroat call to exclude Ward-Prowse from first-team matters should have opened the door for Magassa to make one of the central midfield berths his own, but he has found himself on the periphery and flopped.
FIFA rules state that he cannot feature for a third club in the same season, meaning he is stuck in his current surroundings, but West Ham should get him off their books at the end of the campaign after he has failed to live up to expectations.
All statistics courtesy of Sofascore - correct as of 11/11/2025