West Ham United are ready to give up on right-back Sam Byram. As reported by the London Evening Standard he is one of many fringe players the Hammers are ready to sell to help fund improvement in the starting XI.
It will bring to an end a disappointing stint at West Ham since leaving Leeds United for London.
It will also confirm Everton dodged a bullet with the talented but unlucky defender.
Byram joined the Hammers West Ham in January 2016 for a fee reported by The Independent to be in the region of £3.7 million. His contract at Elland Road had just six months left to run, so teams were clamoring to snap up one of the Championship’s top talents.
Everton were one such team.
Roberto Martinez targeted the player as competition and a potential long-term successor to Irish star Seamus Coleman.
But the deal never happened. In fact, talking to The Guardian, the former Everton boss stated that Byram was not up to the ‘challenge’ of fighting for first-team football at Goodison Park.
Since then, Byram has played just 36 times in three-and-half seasons at the London stadium and has failed to impress in that time.
Everton were fortunate to avoid this Martinez target.