Will a 25-man limit mean player exodus from Upton Park?

22 July 2010

DECISION TIME: West Ham boss Avram Grant and his assistant Paul Groves will have some tough decisions to make before announcing their 25-man squad at the end of August.

WHEN Avram Grant took over the helm at Upton Park just a couple of weeks ago, he was told that an improvement on last season was the simple bottom line for the coming campaign.

Grant insisted that every one of the current squad had a chance to impress him, but with only 25 players allowed in the Premier League squad this season, there would be a real battle for places.

That was made even more difficult at the weekend as West Ham confirmed the signings of both Mexican winger Pablo Barrera and French striker Frederic Piquionne, and with the possibility of centre half Tel Ben-Haim to follow in the next couple of days, it makes the situation even more acute.

Last season, West Ham used 30 different players in league games, and though the likes of Luis Jimenez, Mido, Ilan, James Collins and Guillermo Franco have all departed, that still leaves 25 players plus three new signings, a possible third goalkeeper and anyone else who is likely to come through the door.

Only 17 of the squad can be 21 or older without three years of continuous development in the English game, with eight others having to be home-grown players, in so much as they have been at the club for three season before they were 21.

One aid for West Ham is that the Premier League have allowed each team to have a B squad featuring as many players as they want who were 21 or under in January of this year.

That will account for the likes of Frank Nouble, Junior Stanislas, Zavon Hines, James Tomkins, Jordan Spence, Anthony Edgar, Matty Fry, Oliver Lee and Freddie Sears and give Grant a certain amount of leeway with regard to new signings.

Despite that, the most likely scenario is that Grant will still look to sell some of his squad.

The potential arrival of Ben-Haim, suggests that skipper Matthew Upson may be on the way to find European football, though negotiations are ongoing, while the likes of Alessandro Diamanti regretfully and Radoslav Kovac hopefully are likely to find themselves surplus to requirements.

Carlton Cole has scored two goals in pre-season already, but does the arrival of Piquionne mean that an £8million bid for the England striker from Stoke City will be enough to prise him away? The fans will hope not

Kieron Dyer is constantly battling for fitness, but would West Ham be willing to sacrifice him just when he is on the verge of full fitness? (again!)

It is important to remember that the Hammers were for the most part, terrible last season. They won only one away game, they flirted with relegation all season and only the mediocrity of the teams around them prevented them from dropping into the Championship.

Grant does need to shake things up and changes need to be made and inevitably that will have to mean the departure of some of the squad.

Just how many remains to be seen, but with West Ham seemingly bidding for a host of players, it may well be more than you think.

POSSIBLE 25: 1. Green, 2. Faubert, 3. Ilunga, 4. Da Costa, 5. Upson?, 6. Spector, 7. Gabbidon, 8. Parker, 9. Hitzlsperger, 10. Dyer, 11. Boa Morte, 12. Behrami?, 13. Diamanti?, 14. Cole, 15. Piquionne, 16. Barrera, 17. McCarthy, 18. Edgar (hg), 19. Tomkins (hg), 20. Noble (hg), 21. Collison (hg), 22. Hines (hg), 23. Stanislas (hg), 24. Sears (hg), 25. Stech (hg).

Possible B Squad: Daprela, Lee, Kurucz, Nouble, Spence, Fry, Lee, Eyjolfsson.