Despite starting just one Premier League match last season, ex-pro Noel Whelan expects West Ham United to offer out-of-favour Andriy Yarmolenko a new contract in an attempt to stop him from leaving for free.
Yarmolenko, 31, joined West Ham in 2018 following an £18m move from German side Borussia Dortmund.
Since his arrival in the country’s capital three years ago and despite being one of the club’s top earners, the wide-attacker has gone on to feature in just 54 matches, in all competitions.
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Having fallen majorly out of favour with manager David Moyes, this summer looked nailed on to be the time fans could expect the Ukraine international to move on.
However, while speaking recently to Football Insider, Whelan is predicting a shock outcome which could see the 31-year-old offered a new deal.
“If you can get an extension, that’d be good,” Whelan said. “West Ham are probably wary about the injury problems that he’s had.
“But at the same time, you look at the consistency of performances and the fitness levels that he brought to Ukraine. You’d be sitting there thinking you’ve got a real decision to make.
“It’s a toss of a coin. If he’s not going to sign for West Ham, other teams, players and managers have seen his capabilities.
“If they’re going to put in a bid, it’d be very hard to resist that. You can’t allow a player to go out on a free.
“It’s a real big crossroads right now for Yarmolenko and West Ham.”
Turkish side Fenerbache has recently been linked (Sabah) signing Yarmolenko, however, given how impressive his Euros 2020 tournament was, fans should probably expect more suitors to come in.
Yet all other recent stories say that the player is going for nothing… Please stop quoting the thoughts of people like Whelan (Danny Mills, Kevin Phillips, Paul Robinson, Darren Bent, etc.). They say the first thing that comes into their head, and are usually wrong. It’s both boring and embarrassing.