Fans of West Ham must accept that the £30 million star will depart on a free transfer the following year.
In my opinion, one West Ham United player will be able to leave the London Stadium in 2025 on a free transfer.
If West Ham is to rebuild the current squad over the course of the upcoming transfer windows, manager David Moyes will have a lot of work ahead of him.
With an average age of 28, our team currently has the second-oldest roster in the league (Transfermarkt).
Kurt Zouma, the club captain, is one player who, in my opinion, has to be replaced, preferably this summer.
By appointing the 29-year-old as the team’s captain at the beginning of the current campaign, Moyes committed a grave error because neither a leader nor a physically fit enough player can be counted on.
This season, I would love for Moyes to bring in a major upgrade for Zouma, but the challenge will be parting with the Frenchman.
Zouma, who cost £30 million to sign from Chelsea in the summer of 2021 (Daily Mail), has generally been a fantastic player for us, but his legs are obviously no longer there, and the opposition has made him a constant target.
The 30-year-old center back, who plays for the London Stadium (Spotrac), makes £125,000 a week. His contract expires in the summer of 2025.
Given his injury history and his apparent knee issues, no club will likely be willing to pay West Ham both the transfer fee for Zouma and his enormous salary.
He suffered a torn cruciate ligament during his time at Chelsea in the 2015–16 season, and he has since missed 459 games due to a variety of injuries (Transfermarkt).
In my opinion, the most likely scenario is that he will play another season at the London Stadium before being released in the summer of 2025.
It would be completely insane to offer the former Chelsea player a new contract; as harsh as it may sound, Zouma is currently a walking disaster. For the full ninety minutes, he truly finds it difficult to move around the field without limping.
He is done competing at the highest level, but regrettably for West Ham, I don’t see a situation in which we can fetch a fee for him. Instead, I am convinced that he will leave on a free transfer in about 15 months.
