West Ham vs. Watford; a swan song for a few West Ham players

As the season comes to a close, so too does the West Ham careers for a few select players from the senior squad. Some are not confirmed, but here is the list of the biggest names that could be gone after the Watford match.

Javier Hernandez: The Mexican striker has netted a solid 7 goals for the Hammers in the Premier League this season, but inconsistent play, illness, injury layoff, and cryptic messages to the supporters and team could be enough to see off Chicharito.

It’s ironic that a team that needs proven strikers to join the club would transfer out the likes of Hernandez, but recouping around possibly £10m could directly help replace him with a young Championship striker to build around like Che Adams or Neil Maupay.

Pedro Obiang: Slaven Bilic’s tackling wonder defensive midfielder has played so poorly over the past two seasons it’s incredible he wasn’t shipped out last summer. What a shame, too, as Obiang looked an absolute player during the last season at Upton Park and even in the inaugural season at the Olympic Stadium.

With just 12 Premier League starts this season, Obiang has likely been passed by Connor Coventry and Joe Powell in the minds of the supporters who would rather invest the time in an academy prospect. He’s been linked with a move back to Italy and will complete that come seasons end.

Adrian: The Hammers longterm goalkeeper is finally off, probably to play out his remaining days in his home country of Spain. No hard feelings on this one, just a team trying to push on to the next level and a keeper who is past his prime days who will get to ride off into the sunset. His replacement will be a low-cost veteran, most likely, who will thrive on Cup games.

Arthur Masuaku: A bit of a bittersweet one here, but the Irons’ attacking-minded left-back should be gone in the summer. Bittersweet because he’s played so well in his and the clubs last four starts. Ideally, he’s a left-wingback but after struggling earlier this season, Masuaku took to social media to state he’s being played out of position.

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If he wanted to play left-wing, he picked an awful time to express that. Felipe Anderson proved much more skilled and more durable too, this season and strangled almost any LW minutes for the squad. It may be good that West Ham is moving on from an unpredictable player here.

Lucas Perez: It just didn’t seem to be a good fit once the season started. West Ham were so reliant on their physically dominant striker, Arnautovic, and Perez offered more of a sneaky poacher style striker. The deadline deal for striker insurance ended up kind of paying off with Arnautovic’s injury absence this season, but it should only be a one-year tenure in East London for the Spaniard.

Samir Nasri: He wasn’t actually much of a fixture in the first team, which is why he has to be released by the club after the Watford match. Pellegrini took a chance on his old Manchester City attacking midfielder and when he played he made his manager look like a genius. The only problem is that he didn’t play all that much.

After his 18-month ban was lifted Nasri joined the Hammers (officially) but didn’t look to have kept in shape during his time off. This was then confirmed as injury after injury caused him to miss 8 matches due to injury while only playing in 5. It just wasn’t meant to be and the wages can be used elsewhere.

Next. GSH Predicts West Ham’s final match of the season. dark

So there we have it, a rather strong list of first-team players who are likely gone after Watford. To add to this list are possibly Marko Arnautovic, Angelo Ogbonna, Winston Reid, a few out-of-contract players, and a handful of academy prospects and loanees who just don’t have an avenue to the West Ham starting XI. It should be an exciting and active summer for Pellegrini and Co.