**West Ham United have confirmed that Nuno Espirito Santo will be staying at the club this summer.**
After we were relegated on Sunday, the fans immediately assumed Nuno would leave the club, whether that be his decision or the club’s choice.
However, after a couple of days of discussions, the club and Nuno have decided to continue. Reports suggest this was pushed most by the joint-chair Daniel Kretinsky, who is reportedly interested in investing more money into the club.
Keeping Nuno is a huge financial commitment; he’s the highest-paid manager in the club’s history, and was one of the highest-paid managers in the Premier League. He will now be by far and away the highest-paid manager in the Championship next season.
Considering the reports that we need to raise £150m in player sales due to club debt, this is a huge decision. However, on the other hand, it’s also making fans think more positively. If Kretinsky is investing more, can we keep some of our best players?
The fanbase has already accepted that Crysencio Summerville and Mateus Fernandes will be leaving in the summer, which would be upsetting, but they aren’t going to want to play Championship football.
The likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Jean-Clair Todibo, El Hadji Malick Diouf, and Songoutou Magassa will also likely leave, but I can’t imagine the fans are that bothered.
The players we realistically want to keep are said to be Jarrod Bowen, Tomas Soucek, Taty Castellanos, and Konstantinos Mavropanos. The first two are most likely to stay; they are club legends, they have released statements addressing next season, and they love the club.
The chances of Taty Castellanos, especially, have increased with the news of Nuno staying. Obviously, Nuno wanted to bring in Taty in January, and he is proven in his system, so would Taty take a year in the Championship in a system we know he works in?
Taty has admitted that he plays club football to earn his place in the Argentina squad. He made his debut for his country when he was at Lazio; however, he wasn’t picked for the World Cup this summer.
He won’t get a call-up in the Championship, even if he has a wonder season; however, he can play the long game. An excellent season in the second tier, along with promotion and leading the Irons’ line in the Premier League again, where he knows he can succeed, could earn him more call-ups for Argentina in the future.
I don’t think there is much chance Mavropanos will stay. I think he will want a move back to Germany with his former club Stuttgart and Borussia Dortmund interested. However, with how much he has impressed under Nuno, like Taty, maybe he’ll give us a year in the second tier.