Despite saying goodbye to West Ham, striker Callum Wilson was not named on the club’s list of 11 released players – and the reason why gives some hope he could stay next season.
Nobody did more in their time on the pitch than Callum Wilson to keep West Ham in the Premier League.
Hammers fans shared Wilson’s frustrations at his lack of game time with £20m flop Pablo often being preferred ahead of him.
That was despite Wilson scoring some vital goals which earned West Ham points.
Fresh hope Wilson could stay at West Ham having not been named on released list
Comfortably the club’s best finisher, it was baffling Wilson was not utilised more by Nuno Espirito Santo.
The veteran forward provided a timely reminder of that when he scored a wonderful goal in West Ham’s fruitless 3-0 win over Leeds on the final day of the season as relegation was confirmed.
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In the end West Ham missed out on survival by a solitary win and many feel more game time for Wilson would surely have secured that missing three points.
Wilson aimed a swipe at Nuno after reluctantly announcing his West Ham exit in the wake of demotion to the Championship.
That appeared to definitely spell the end of Wilson’s time at the club when it was confirmed Nuno was staying to try and lead the Hammers back to the big time.
West Ham fans hoped Wilson might be persuaded to stick around in the Championship given he turns 35 next season.
Hammers supporters believe his finishing prowess and experience would almost guarantee promotion back to the Premier League, especially if the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Tomas Soucek stay too.
Details of West Ham’s contract offer to Wilson revealed
But that seemed unlikely with Wilson’s first – and boyhood – club Coventry and fellow newly-promoted side Hull interested in keeping him in the top flight.
Wilson is believed to be keen to remain in the Premier League to chase a personal milestone of entering the 100-goal club.
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However, there was some confusion when Wilson was not named on West Ham’s list of 11 released players earlier this week.
The Hammers confirmed Lukasz Fabianski, Adama Traore, Michael Forbes, Junior Robinson, Tyron Akpata, Daniel Rigge, David Chigwada, Tom Wooster and Jonathan Unwin are all being let go.
Meanwhile, Axel Disasi will also leave on the expiration of his loan deal and Hammers News understands Maxwel Cornet is expected to have the last year of his contract terminated soon.
There was no mention of Wilson, though, despite his contract being up this month.
That is because West Ham have made a new contract offer to Wilson to try and tempt him to stay.
Hammers News understands the offer improves drastically on the very modest wages Wilson was picking up last season unless he played and scored for the Hammers.
We can also exclusively reveal the contract offer is for one year with an extra year tiggered automatically should West Ham achieve promotion.
With the Hammers expecting and aiming to go up automatically, that could essentially be a two-year contract offer for Wilson – which will not be easy to come by at his age.
It would also incentivise the striker to score the goals to get West Ham back in the Premier League, where he can then play a role and hopefully notch the five goals he needs to make the 100-club.
Hammers News understands – as has also been reported by the likes of ExWHUemployee – that Wilson is currently mulling the offer from West Ham before deciding on his next move.
Hammers News exclusively broke the news that Wilson was joining West Ham on a free transfer last summer.
Initially there was a backlash from many Hammers fans, who did not like how Wilson had spoken about the club he had scored more goals against than any other.
That did not last, though, as supporters got behind him and soon saw he was far from finished at the top level as many had suggested.
Now a firm favourite with supporters, Wilson – who called West Ham’s claret and blue kit ‘iconic’ in his apparent farewell message – holds the key to whether he will make a stunning U-turn and pledge to play out his final years in east London.
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