**According to many reports, West Ham need to raise around £150m from player sales this summer. Here’s how we can do it…**
A lot of players will be leaving this summer after relegation was confirmed on Sunday night, despite the 3-0 win over Leeds United.
The players almost guaranteed to be off this summer are Mateus Fernandes, Crysencio Summerville, Jean-Clair Todibo, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Taty Castellanos, and El Hadji Malick Diouf.
Let’s go through them one by one and assign a value to see how much we could potentially make from sales…
**Mateus Fernandes**– The Portugal international is clearly our most desired and valuable player, after signing him for £42m in the summer, followed by excellent performances on the pitch and a Premier League young player of the year nomination.
The Hammers board should expect at least **£55-60 million** for his services, considering how many teams have already been linked to him. It could have been even more if we had stayed up.
**Crysencio Summerville**– The flying Dutchman has been a strange signing, signed for what was considered a bit of a ‘bargain’ at £25m, he hasn’t really lived up to the hype. However, his run mid-way through the season this term showed just how good he can be, and a team could take a risk on him.
If we had gone down, it probably would have taken at least £50m to tempt us into selling him. However, now we’ve gone down, we have to sell him, and we’ll probably have to settle for around **£30-35 million.**
So with just two players down, we’re already almost £100 million down, so raising £150 million in total shouldn’t really be a problem.
**Jean-Clair Todibo-** This signing really hasn’t worked out. The hassle it took to capture the £32m central defender has been an absolute disaster. He just isn’t cut out for the Premier League; he lacks the mentality, physicality, and ability to succeed at this level.
Luckily, his reputation in Europe might still be intact, so we might be able to get back just under half of what we paid if we’re lucky. I’d say we can get £**10-15 million** for the 26-year-old defender.
**Aaron Wan-Bissaka**– Named Hammer Of The Year this time last year, Wan-Bissaka was woeful this season. Lack of concentration, laziness, he just didn’t have the stomach for the fight.
He has already been linked with a move to Everton and has the chance to impress for DR Congo in the World Cup this summer, however, at 29 and coming off probably his worst season as a pro, I’d expect us to get around **8-10 million** for the former Manchester United and Crystal Palace man.
**Valentin Castellanos**– Not many Hammers fans have many complaints about Taty, signed for an extortionate £25m in January, he’s scored 7 goals in 22 matches and worked his nuts off in every single one of them.
We will lose money on him because we’ve gone down; however, after proving he’s good enough for the Premier League, there will almost certainly be interest around the **£15-20 million** mark, especially nearer the end of the window if a team gets desperate.
**El Hadji Malick Diouf**– The young Senegalese left-back is a different player to judge. He has had good moments, but he’s also had some really bad ones. His reputation amongst fans outside of West Ham is a lot better than his reputation amongst the Irons faithful, which will benefit us.
Diouf is a player that a team will be buying for his potential rather than what he is now. What he is now would be a starter for a mid-table/Europa League pushing team, but a back-up with the plan of him becoming the first choice for a top team.
We paid £19m for him last summer; we will certainly make a profit on that, however, not as much as we could have got if we stayed in the top flight. I’d value Malick Diouf at **£25-30 million**.
If we take the lowest values I’ve given every player and add them up, that’s £143m, which almost covers the reported £150m we have to raise, and considering I’m being on the conservative side, I think we can raise that number without having to sell both Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek.
Obviously, we have to replace these players too, so we might still be forced to sell these two Hammers icons, but let’s hope not, we need them and their love for the club next season.