West Ham United won the Conference League final in 2023 but four of the squad members from that victory over Fiorentina won’t be at the London Stadium next season
West Ham United stars Vladimir Coufal, Aaron Cresswell, Lukasz Fabianski and Danny Ings will leave the club at the end of the 2024-25 season, the club have confirmed. All four were part of the matchday squad for the 2023 Conference League final, when the Hammers claimed a dramatic victory over Fiorentina to lift the trophy.
“The four members of our 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League-winning squad all played their part in one of the most successful periods in West Ham United’s history, and will depart having made a combined total of more than 800 first-team appearances between them,” a club statement read. Coufal started that final in Prague, with Cresswell, Fabianski and Ings among the substitutes.
West Ham sit 17th in the Premier League but are already comfortably safe from relegation. The four exits come ahead of a first summer transfer window under Graham Potter, who took over as manager in January.
“Aaron, Łukasz, Vladimír and Danny have been a pleasure to work with in my time here so far – all brilliant professionals on and off the pitch, with fantastic experience in the Premier League, and clearly loved and admired by their team-mates and everyone here at the Club,” Potter said.
“We still have three important matches to play this season, and I know that their focus will be 100% on helping the team in any way they can in those games, but we felt it was important to confirm this news now, out of respect for them and the service they have given to the Club, and to allow our supporters to show their appreciation at our final home match of the season.”
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Cresswell is the longest-serving member of the Hammers’ current squad and has the longest uninterrupted Premier League run of any player in the club’s history. He joined from Ipswich in 2014, playing more than 300 top-flight matches for the club and winning his three England caps while on West Ham’s books.
Goalkeeper Fabianski was named the club’s player of the year in 2019, while right-back Coufal finished runner-up for the same award two years later. Ings is a more recent arrival, joining from Aston Villa in January 2023 and scoring vital goals as West Ham combined their European run with a battle against relegation.
West Ham take on Manchester United in the Premier League this weekend, with fans having a chance to give the four departing stars a send-off at the London Stadium next week as Nottingham Forest are the visitors for the final home game of the season. Potter’s team can leapfrog their opponents with a win at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim’s side go into the game off the back of qualifying for the Europa League final, and it remains to be seen whether Amorim will ring the changes as he did for his team’a last league game. “We have no idea how Manchester United will approach the game,” Potter said.
“It’s always complicated at Old Trafford, but we have to focus on ourselves and try to get the three points. We want to try and win and it doesn’t matter about the opponent.”
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