It is critical that West Ham get rid of Felipe Anderson and Yarmolenko this summer, says football finance expert Kieran Maguire.
According to Spotrac, the duo are in the top three for the highest-paid players at West Ham, with Yarmolenko actually coming in at first.
Despite Anderson being out on loan and Yarmolenko barely featuring under David Moyes, the two attackers have contracts worth £10.4m a year combined.
Who would you rather have?
Abraham
Toney
Armstrong
For Maguire, it is vital for David Gold and David Sullivan to get rid of these high earners if they are only going to have bit-part roles or not feature at all.
“It’s critical because it frees up space first of all in terms of the 25-man squad for the Premier League,” Maguire told TIF. “But [also] for every million pounds you take off the wage bill from those two players, it allows them to go into the recruitment market.
“We are seeing an awful lot of you need to sell before you can buy in football, and I think that will be the case this summer.”
Indeed, it probably is in everyone’s best interest for both players to move on this summer.
It is hard to imagine Anderson or Yarmolenko being regular starters under Moyes next season, especially if West Ham manage to bring Jesse Lingard in permanently.
The Manchester United man helped form a dangerous attack alongside the likes of Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen, scoring nine goals and assisting another four in just 16 league appearances during his short loan spell at the London Stadium.