West Ham United

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We asked for your views on Mohammed Kudus being linked with a move to Chelsea in a cash-plus-player deal.

Here are some of your comments:

Lewis: He has a release clause for a reason. If you want the player, pay the £85m. West Ham should hold firm on that. Yes, he had a poor season, but he's easily our second or third-best player.

Jerry: Shame to lose Kudus, but he's had a poor season. I don't think taking Sanchez in part-exchange is a good idea! Chelsea will be getting a great deal, and we will be getting worse, unbelievable!

Rich: Feels like a no-brainer to part ways if we can get the sort of money his release clause dictates. It's been documented that we need to sell to fund purchases, and need to give Potter a chance to build his squad his way. It's either Paqueta or Kudus who has to go to raise that sort of money, and I think Paqueta has demonstrated a better attitude and quality, too.

Gill: Kudus has been a no-show all season. He obviously wants to move on, and it's on someone else's stool. Let him go if we can get such a good price for him. Given this season's showing, £85m is worth grabbing and using productively on someone who fits Potter's plan.

Glen: Kudus was a breath of fresh air when he joined, but the drop-off in performance has been astounding. Down on goals and assists, but more worryingly has shown not to have the awareness of players around him, and has been too greedy with the ball. If he could be back to the level of his first season, he is quality, but I fear his head has been turned and he has wanted to leave for a while, resulting in a flat performance on the pitch.

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West Ham have confirmed that Nice defender Jean-Clair Todibo will join on a permanent deal on 1 July, following a season-long loan at the Premier League club.

The 25-year-old made 29 appearances in all competitions, starting 12 of the final 13 Premier League matches after returning from injury.

Meanwhile, Carlos Soler and Evan Ferguson will return to Paris St-Germain and Brighton respectively at the end of their loan spells.

In a statement, the club said: "Everyone at West Ham United would like to thank Carlos and Evan for their contribution and commitment during their time at the club, and wish them every success for the future."

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West Ham have received multiple enquiries from clubs interested in signing Mohammed Kudus.

Sources have told BBC Sport Chelsea are among those to have engaged in early talks with the Hammers over the forward, who has a release clause of £85m.

The prospect of at least one Blues player heading across London as part of the deal has been discussed, with goalkeeper Robert Sanchez is one to have been mentioned.

At least one other Premier League side and several overseas are monitoring Kudus' situation.

So, what do you make of this potential transfer? Would £85m be a good deal, or is Kudus invaluable to the squad? And what about any players coming the other way - who would you want from Chelsea?

Let us know here

West Ham have contacted Club Brugge about signing 24-year-old Nigeria midfielder Raphael Onyedika, but face competition from AC Milan. (TBR Football, external)

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England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale has held talks about a move to West Ham from Southampton, who are hoping to get £20m for the 27-year-old following relegation from the Premier League. (Talksport), external

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We asked for your views on whether West Ham can afford to lose Tomas Soucek given reports he is a target for other clubs.

Here are some of your comments:

Mick: Since his signing he has been a pivotal member of the team. He has become a player West Ham cannot afford to let go. He always gives his best to the shirt. To allow him to go would be absolutely criminal. He has got to stay. He is too valuable to let go.

David: Absolutely no chance we can afford to lose him. He's vital in both boxes and hugely underrated. There is still a place in the Premier League for this type of player. Not great on the eye but efficient. We could do a lot worse.

Len: I don't know how Potter can get rid of the big man. He scores too many important goals for us.

David: Wouldn't want to lose Soucek. First name on the team sheet for me.

Jerry: Keep Him! Always works hard and scores crucial goals. He might not be the most skilful midfielder we have, but unlike others, he's a team player who gives his all in every game.

Dave: Players like Soucek are like gold dust. He covers more ground than anyone, wins more headers than anyone, hassles, harries, helps out in both boxes and scores 10 a season. But because he's not quick and tricky he's looked down upon. The team is miles better when he plays. Selling him would be utterly insane.

James Jones
Fan writer

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It seems like every single summer is a 'big one for West Ham'. This summer, though, is probably as big as it is going to get.

After all of the success David Moyes brought to the club, the struggle and disappointment the 2024-25 campaign has led to so much work needing to be done in order to get the club back towards where it arguably should be - competing for European qualification.

Graham Potter was able to make some improvements after replacing Julen Lopetegui in January but it is plainly obvious it will need more than one summer to fix all of the problems he inherited in east London.

Once again, we need a striker. One who can both score goals and stay fit, not just one or the other.

Meanwhile, the midfield is in need of an overhaul. All season it looked slow, unbalanced and largely ineffective. It means there are serious questions over the futures of Guido Rodriguez, Edson Alvarez and James Ward-Prowse.

Then, there is the question marks over Lucas Paqueta, who failed to register an assist in 2024-25, and Mohammed Kudus, whose performances throughout the campaign failed emphatically to explain why anyone would even consider paying £80m-plus for his services this summer.

It is made all the worse by the fact we are hearing rumours the club cannot afford another summer of big spending.

What do I expect to happen? A handful of free transfers and a bunch of relatively unknown players who will arrive from the continent for bargain fees.

There might be one or two 'big signings' made possible by the sale of Paqueta or Kudus - perhaps both - but it is likely to be a relatively underwhelming window on the surface.

Other than that, we have to make peace with the fact this will not be a one-window fix for Potter.

Find more from James Jones at We Are West Ham, external

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Since making his Premier League debut in 2019-20, Tomas Soucek has won more aerial duels (762) and scored more headed goals (10) than any other midfielder.

So given Soucek is linked with a move to other clubs, what's your view? Can West Ham afford to lose him?

Tell us

Everton, Manchester United and West Ham could make a move for Serbia striker Aleksandar Mitrovic, with Al-Hilal prepared to offload the 30-year-old. (Talksport), external

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BBC Sport pundit Nedum Onuoha has given us his insight and opinion every fortnight on your Premier League club throughout this season.

But this week, he's in the hotseat for your questions.

Maybe ask him who should be on your club's radar this summer, or where a rumoured target or new signing might fit into the team.

Perhaps see what he thinks about how successful a new recruit might be, who it is vital to keep, or what is needed to make next season a success.

Send in your questions here and we'll put a selection to him

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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BBC Sport's football reporters have been taking questions all day, including chief football news reporter Simon Stone.

Andy in Leeds asked: Given the size of our fan base and stadium, being a London club, and having recently won a European trophy, why do West Ham struggle to attract and afford bigger-name players? Is our board to blame for the way it runs things?

Simon answered: Hiya Andy. I am not sure what you mean by 'big names'. West Ham spent a lot of money on Mohammed Kudus, Jarrod Bowen, Lucas Paqueta etc. What they can't do is spend lots of money on players who are going to sit on the bench (they have spent a lot on players who ended up sitting on the bench but that is different).

West Ham did win a European trophy and under David Moyes qualified for Europe for three seasons in a row. But that was something they had never done before in their entire history - and in two of their last three seasons, they have finished 14th, which is around where they have tended to finish.

I have always felt there was potential for growth at West Ham - but competition in the Premier League is harder than its ever been. Newcastle and Aston Villa are similar sized clubs but have qualified for the Champions League under relatively new and hugely ambitious owners. West Ham have lost the momentum they had under Moyes. They can get it back under Graham Potter but it takes time.

Read more of the Q&A with our reporters

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BBC Sport chief football reporter Simon Stone has been answering your questions on the summer transfer window.

A tired West Ham fan asked: What is your view on the current transfer set up at West Ham? Is Potter in charge or is it the same mess where the board impose their players onto the manager and then fail to get anyone the manager actually wants? P.s. I'm aware we had Steidten in place before but that still didn't seem to stop the above scenario from happening!

Simon answered: Nice easy one to start with... Firstly, Graham Potter has brought Kyle Macaulay in as his head of recruitment. The pair have worked with each other for over a decade, so it seems like a perfectly sensible appointment.

I do understand the criticism of the ownership being involved in recruitment but David Sullivan does run the club, so he is entitled to have an input. There has been a couple of occasions when he tried to step back, when Manuel Pellegrini came in, and had Mario Husillos working with him, and then with Tim Steidten. Neither worked.

The problem with Steidten was that his philosophy differed hugely from that of David Moyes, so the partnership was ineffective. Then, when Moyes left, Steidten made a succession of poor decisions, starting with Julen Lopetegui as Moyes' replacement.

Overall, I think West Ham are in a better position now than they have been for a long time. The problem at the moment is the money from selling Declan Rice has gone so a decision has to be made around the future of Mohammed Kudus.

Follow the Q&A and the rest of the day's football news here

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We asked for you to tell us what West Ham need to do in the summer transfer window.

Here are some of your comments:

Andy: We have a soft centre at the moment. We invested heavily in central defenders and midfield players that are slow and not up to the standard required. Esteve from Burnley would be ideal and maybe try to tempt Franck Kessie back to top-level football to add more dynamism in midfield.

Dave: I want us to be like other clubs who unearth stars cheaply then sell them for a profit. We need strengthening all over the park - if that means selling the family silver, apart from the captain, so be it.

Nick: We always have a midfield that overflowed. What we need is a straight-up striker to support Bowen and to invest in defenders!

James: We need young, athletic, and hungry players! A proven number nine is a must, as is a quality goalkeeper. Need more legs in midfield, plus ball-playing centre-backs. In essence, a big rebuild!

Derek: We need pace and legs in the midfield - the game is all about pace all around the pitch now and we have neglected that to the extreme for the past four or five years.

Mark: We surely need to a decent clearout. However, we may end up with 13 players and rely on the young lads coming through. It's certainly not going to be the window of last summer. Hopefully Fullkrug will stay and have a decent season. Kudus, Paqueta and Alvarez are probably on their way out.

Dean: WE NEED A STRIKER! Simple as that. Antonio is undoubtedly a club legend but we cannot rely on him again.

Thank you for the feedback you submitted on the Premier League club pages.

Our aim is to contain all of the BBC's in-depth coverage of that team in one place, so it helpful to hear from you - you are who the pages are for after all.

We are going through all your responses and will take suggestions on board for next season.

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The transfer window opens on Sunday - albeit for 10 days initially, mainly so sides competing in the Club World Cup can get early business done - before reopening for the rest of the summer on 16 June.

Are there certain players you are desperate for West Ham to sign, or an area of the squad that needs improving? Or maybe holding on to a key player is your biggest priority.

And what about sales - who needs to go?

So over to you... what names need bringing in and shipping out?

Let us know here

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

As the dust settles on the 2024-25 Premier League season, we have been taking a look at some of the alternative ways the the table could have finished...

A Premier League season can sometimes be a tale of two halves.

Some come flying out of the blocks, while others are more sluggish starters.

The busy Christmas period can be a turning point with the arrival of the January transfer window feeling like a fresh start.

So what might have happened if the league season only start on 1 January?

Well, Pep Guardiola's title-winning machines would have picked up their fifth Premier League trophy in a row.

Playing one game fewer than actual champions Liverpool - who secured the title with four games remaining - they would have finished one point clear of the Reds, not withstanding Arne Slot's side slowdown in form after sealing the title.

City always seem to come good after January, but this time it was not enough to outweigh the torrid time they had from late autumn.

The rest of the top six is not too dissimilar to the final placings, although in this case, Aston Villa would have secured Champions League football and Brighton a Europa League spot in the absence of Chelsea - whose form nose-dived at the very beginning of the year.

And while the new year is a new start for some, it is less so for others.

That was the case for many of those down the bottom of the league.

The relegated trio would still have been relegated and Manchester United and Tottenham would still have ended up in the bottom six. West Ham find themselves one place lower after Wolves picked up form under Vitor Pereira.

So what does this tell us? If you wan to achieve your Premier League ambitions, it is about making sure you are there for nine months and not just from January.

*Table data from Football365

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The BBC's Ask Me Anything team have done all of the research ahead of the announcement detailing next season's Premier League matches.

The fixtures for the 2025-26 season will be released at 09:00 BST on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 and the release will include the weekly schedule of all 380 matches.

The season will begin with a single fixture played on Friday, 15 August 2025 and conclude on Sunday, 24 May 2026, when all matches will be played at 16:00 BST. There will be 33 weekend rounds of fixtures, plus five midweek rounds.

The exact date and time at which individual matches are played during each weekend will be determined at regular intervals throughout the season, based on TV selections made by broadcasters.

Read the full article here

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Regression. Stagnation. Depression. General underachievement.

Take your pick.

It is a bit weird to point out that the Hammers ended up finishing in exactly the same spot as they did two seasons ago when they won the Europa Conference League.

It is the reality but it only happened because West Ham won two of their past three games to finish top of the little four-team mini-league that were - just - too good to go down but absolutely miles off competing for any form of European qualification.

It absolutely was not supposed to be like this when David Moyes departed after three successive European campaigns.

New manager Julen Lopetegui and Tim Steidten as technical director were supposed to usher in a new world for the east London outfit. Both were gone by the beginning of February.

Many of the new arrivals did not work and neither did Graham Potter for a long period.

Wins over Manchester United and Ipswich put a positive gloss on a season to forget at the London Stadium.

Potter needs to hit the ground running in August.

We asked you to select your West Ham player of the season from the four candidates chosen by our fan contributor.

And with the poll now closed, we can reveal the winner is... Aaron Wan-Bissaka!

Here's what James Jones from We Are West Ham, external said about him:

He found it difficult under Julen Lopetegui because he was asked to play so high up the pitch, almost like an inverted right wing-back.

But under Graham Potter he has flourished and has arguably been our best defender since the turn of the year. A snip at £15m.

See the final poll breakdown

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Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Newcastle's Bruno Guimaraes covered the most ground this season, running 261 miles (St James' Park to Wembley is 271 miles).

He retains the award after racking up 263 miles in the competition last season.

Josko Gvardiol, Daniel Munoz, Bryan Mbeumo and Milos Kerkez complete the top five for most distance covered across the Premier League season.

Taking time on the pitch into account (out of players that played over half the available minutes), Guimaraes was pipped by Newcastle team-mate in the list by team-mate Sandro Tonali who covered more ground per 90 minutes than the Brazilian…although Bruno still ran 7.2 miles per 90 minutes!

Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski ran harder than any other player this season, covering 7.7 miles per 90 minutes on average.

West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek ran an average of 7.5 miles per 90 minutes, while Manchester City's Bernardo Silva (7.3) and Brighton's Yasin Ayari complete the top five.

Chris Collinson
BBC Sport statistician

Bournemouth and Tottenham were the most physical teams in the Premier League this season when considering the distance they covered and the number of sprints performed.

The results might explain why they had a lot of injuries.

Newcastle and Brighton were not too far behind though, with Brighton actually covering the most ground in the league, with fewer sprints.

Chelsea and Liverpool's style of play saw them sprint a lot but not cover a lot of ground, while Manchester City and Arsenal were the opposite (ran a lot but didn't sprint a lot).

Nottingham Forest very much had their own style of play this season as they both ran and sprinted the least.