West Ham United could part ways with strikers Michail Antonio and Danny Ings in January, according to reports.
Both players are in the final year of their contracts, meaning they can leave for free next summer.
West Ham signed Germany international Niclas Fullkrug in the summer but the 31-year-old is yet to start in the Premier League and may need time to adjust to English football. Fullkrug was also injured for the weekend’s 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Ings scored a 95th-minute equaliser in that match but has played just 13 minutes so far this season.
Antonio has been Julen Lopetegui’s go-to striker so far this season but is yet to score in four appearances, while he’s without a goal for West Ham at all dating back to the end of April.
West Ham to cash in on Antonio and Ings?
All of that has left West Ham in need of another striker in January but to make that sort of move, they must lighten their salary burden.
According to Football Insider, West Ham are looking for buyers for both Antonio and Ings this January, raising whatever fees they can for the duo rather than losing them for nothing six months later.
The fees they could receive, coupled with getting their salaries off the books, should free up enough funds for Lopetegui to go in search of another No.9 should he feel Fullkrug needs further back-up.
Indeed, Football Insider have claimed striker is West Ham’s ‘top priority’ position for the next transfer window.
I wish these articles would flesh out the facts of Danny Ings West Ham presence. They always mention his goals to appearances ratio but fail to explain that nearly all his appearances have come off the bench around the 80 to 90+ minutes under Moyes and similarly under Lopetegui, despite Antonio’s waning potency for a couple of seasons. I don’t regard Ings as a West Ham “flop” as he’s often described but as a possible match winner with many premiership goals to his credit, a striker who hasn’t needed to acclimatise himself to the premier league but rather with his experience should have been started three seasons ago and would probably have gained confidence fairly quickly had he been given the chance. It seems he was bought FOR Moyes rather than by him and his reputation has unfairly suffered due to not suiting Moyes’s style of play.
Yes – I entirely agree with this view.