West Ham have a contract decision to makeplaceholder image
West Ham have a contract decision to make | Getty Images
West Ham are taking their time when it comes to making a contract decision.
West Ham are yet to make a decision on the future of one of their players. The Hammers are busy battling relegation as things stand, still in the bottom three and goal difference from safety.
Nuno Espirito Santo and his men are hoping to change that over the coming weeks, with eight games remaining - at time of writing - to leapfrog one of the three teams above them.
But at this stage, no one at West Ham can tell you with any certainty whether the Hammers will be a Premier League or Championship team next season, and that has all sorts of impacts.
The uncertainty means the Iron are going to struggle to get any sort of head start on recruitment ahead of the summer, given their Premier League and Championship budgets are going to be very different.
The same applies to contracts, and West Ham are going to be careful about who they offer contracts to given they can’t promise certain wages, and any new contracts would likely have to come with relegation clauses that see wages automatically drop.
One player who may be curious about his future is Tomas Soucek, who has been a brilliant servant for the club since his arrival in 2020. But at 31 years of age and having had one of his less impressive seasons, there is no certainty about his long term future, especially with only a year on his deal from this summer.
That usually means West Ham will have to decide whether to extend his deal or sell him this summer, though given his age, there is still the possibility Soucek could be kept and allowed to run down his deal.
According to iSport, no contact has been made by the club to Soucek or his representatives at this point, and it’s likely West Ham will wait until they know their fate to approach the subject.
But in truth, that may benefit Soucek, who may get better terms in the summer on the back of a Premier League survival than he would now when the club doesn’t know which division it will be competing in.
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