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Selling Antonio and Kouyate wouldn’t be a bad thing for West Ham

By Scott Johnson

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 15: N'Golo Kante of Chelsea is closed down by Michail Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on August 15, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 15: N'Golo Kante of Chelsea is closed down by Michail Antonio and Cheikhou Kouyate of West Ham United during the Premier League match between Chelsea and West Ham United at Stamford Bridge on August 15, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /
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West Ham are likely to sell Antonio and Kouyate this summer to balance the squad. Given the players we have, I don’t think this is a bad shout at all.

Transfer windows are fairly tough on top Premier League players, unless they’re certain they want to stay. At West Ham, with a new manager, there are certainly a few players that will not be certain of their futures. Two such players are Michail Antonio and Chiek Kouyate, with both rumoured to be close to leaving. For my part, I wouldn’t mind seeing them go.

It’s harsh to say I want them gone, because this club has had its fair share of rubbish in the past. However, for the team’s and the chequebook’s balance, I think selling them makes sense. Antonio hasn’t been the same player since Bilic tried to make him into a right back, and Kouyate always seems to be running the balance between useful and calamitous.

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A necessary farewell?

A lot of fans on twitter have been asking how the club are affording the continued spending this summer. Some have pointed to previous summers of perceived underspend, stating it’s only right there is some now. Others have highlighted that with few players let go, we may yet see some other players leave to balance the books.

Antonio has been somewhat of a fan favourite since his first goal ricocheted off his head and over the Southampton keeper, but he does not feel as devastating now as he did when he first signed. With the signing of Yarmolenko, the potential addition of Anderson and the upcoming youth of Holland, Haksabanovic and Browne he has a lot of competition for space and claiming the 15m+ he is likely to command is probably good value. It wouldn’t be worth holding onto him just to have him rot on the bench all season.

With Kouyate I simply feel we must find better footballing options to him. Whilst at times he can seem to be a rock in the middle and use his long limbs to ease the ball away from the opposition, other times he is simply awful. There doesn’t seem to be an inbetween. That can really hurt a side looking to push up the table. With Rice, Noble, Wilshere and Obiang in the squad, I hope we have our quota of central midfielders.

Next: Will Chicharito stay in East London?

There have been rumours of Palace being interested in Antonio, but the price they offered at the start of the window was considered unreasonably low. Kouyate could move back to Europe, however there are no strong links as of yet. Whilst they are still Hammers I will trust Pellegrini to use them well, but I will not be too sad to sell them for the right price.