David Moyes says West Ham United have friendlies planned for World Cup break as the Hammers go into the unknown.
It says a lot about West Ham’s progress under Moyes in the last two-and-a-half years that they now have a squad filled with international stars.
But not all of them will be heading out to Qatar for the first ever winter World Cup next month.
West Ham signed eight players to the tune of over £170m in the summer. And seven of them are fully fledged internationals.
The likes of Lucas Paqueta, Thilo Kehrer, Nayef Aguerd – if he can get fit in time – and Alphonse Areola will surely all be heading out to Qatar with the Brazil, Germany, Morocco and France national teams respectively.
West Ham captain Declan Rice will be one of the first names on Gareth Southgate’s England squad list while Jarrod Bowen has a chance too having been named in the last squad.
Pablo Fornals will be hoping he can earn a place in Luis Enrique’s Spain squad but is also an outside shot having been in and out of the setup under the former Barcelona manager.
A host of West Ham’s players definitely won’t be flying out to the Middle East in November.
Italy trio Gianluca Scamacca, Emerson Palmieri and Angelo Ogbonna won’t be there because the Azzurri did not qualify.
It is the same story for Ivory Coast winger Maxwel Cornet, Algeria playmaker Said Benrahma, Jamaica striker Michail Antonio and Czech duo Tomas Soucek and Vladimir Coufal.
With a number of other West Ham players not involved with their national teams there were be a sizeable contingent left behind at Rush Green.
There is no precedent for a World Cup in the middle of the season. So West Ham and the other 19 Premier League clubs are entering uncharted waters in many respects.
David Moyes lifts lid on West Ham friendlies plan for World Cup break as Hammers go into the unknown
So what will the Hammers who are left behind be doing back in east London? Well now we have a better idea.
David Moyes says West Ham have friendlies planned for World Cup break as the Hammers go into the unknown.
The Scot revealed on talkSPORT that the club have some friendly matches in the pipeline for the break between November 13th and Boxing Day.
“Yea we have (got a fair few who will be remaining here and not going to the World Cup),” Moyes said on talkSPORT Breakfast.
“And it will mean that it will be a decision of how we’re doing, what sort of games we’re going to have to play.
“We’ve sort of got a couple of friendlies half prepared at the moment for when we do have the break.
“But again, it’s a really difficult thing. We don’t know how it’s going to be, how are other clubs going to work when players get knocked out in the group stages, are they giving players time off or are they bringing them straight back into training because most of the players will be back in.
“If players get to quarter-finals, semi-finals or finals of this competition, they’re having no rest time at all so I think that those players will probably be their club’s best players as well so for example if England go on to do really well and reach the final or win the final, it’ll be very hard to get those players back playing on the 26th of December if you ask me.
“But that’s the way it’s planned and that’s why I’m not quite sure how exactly the league is going to go at the moment, but it’s something new for everybody.”
It will be interesting to see who those friendlies are against.
But Moyes is well known for preferring to keep things local. So look out for friendly matches against London clubs and those not too far from the M25.
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