West Ham could be set to dispense with a significant portion of wages from their expenditure after reports emerged claiming that the club’s joint-top earner could see his future up for review in January, according to insider source ExWHUEmployee.
Experienced Ukrainian international Andriy Yarmolenko has been something of a peripheral figure at the London Stadium recently. He made the switch to the English capital from German giants Borussia Dortmund for around £18m in 2018 but has failed to make a telling impact for the Irons.
One report describes him as lacking ‘the pace, athleticism or defensive responsibility needed to thrive under David Moyes’, in analysis which is telling of where Yarmolenko’s shortfalls are in relation to Moyes’ demands.
That analysis added that the Hammers may well need to offload unwanted players in order to free up sufficient funds to justify major moves in the transfer market in January.
It is argued the Hammers could command a fee of £8m for the 31-year-old, who is valued at just below £7m by Transfermarkt and is joined by Sebastien Haller as the club’s highest earner on £115,000 per week.
Normally deployed as a right-sided winger, he is also adept on the opposite flank and as a centre-forward (Transfermarkt). He has scored nine goals and supplied five assists in almost 50 appearances for the Irons, netting just under once every five games.
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Yarmolenko has seemingly not been the prolific winger that the Hammers may have thought they were buying two years ago and has yet to start a Premier League game this season.
If he constitutes a high-earning peripheral player, selling him may be the financial key to unlocking further squad progression in future windows. That could more than justify a potential exit in January.
