AMONGST the usual platitudes trotted out to the media during international breaks as journalists go in search for stories, this one jumped out as being a little -shall we say-‘_eyebrow raising_‘.
Looking back on the dealings at the end of the winter transfer window, Spanish news source ElDesmarque carry an interview with one former West Ham player now firmly embedded in his new side Valencia.
**Guido Rodriguez**, you’ll remember, was the freebie signing that Julen Lopetegui brought to West Ham to be his midfield enforcer – only to find the former World Cup winner permanently a yard off the pace for a Primer League midfield starting eleven.
Rodriguez the World Cup winner didn’t settle at West Ham
When joined with Soucek and Ward Prowse the resultant slow, stodgy midfield was positively soporific. Rather than leave, Rodriguez adopted the _‘stay and fight for my place_‘ mantra which actually meant ‘_take the seventy five g’s a week that I’m entitled to_‘ for half a season before finally admitting defeat and joining Valencia.
However, Rodriguez, according to [ElDesmarque](https://www.eldesmarque.com/futbol/liga-1a-division/20260326/guido-rodriguez-gustaria-valencia-cf_18_018725705.html), has a different version of events in which West Ham didn’t want to let him go:
“_The 31-year-old completed a switch to Valencia in the January window, signing a contract until the end of the season, taking a significant financial hit…the transfer window was closing, and things had to be done quickly because there was also a club that owned my contract, West Ham, and **leaving there wasn’t easy either.”**_
Living there wasn’t easy. Really? West Ham would have been delighted to see his salary off the books – and I’d have thought fans would have gladly started a _gofundme_ page to pay for his taxi to the airport, such was the 31 year old’s limited contribution – less than 300 minutes on the pitch this season for West Ham United.
It ‘must have been difficult’ leaving that bumper pay packet, the poor boy. _Joking aside,_ good luck to him. He always did try his very best when called upon. Which wasn’t often, admittedly.