West Ham announce nine players to leave the club including fan favourite Angelo Ogbonna
It comes as West Ham are linked with high-profile arrivals under new manager Julen Lopetegui
WEST HAM have released NINE players including fan-favourite Angelo Ogbonna.
The centre-back, 36, spent nine years in East London and played 249 times for the club.
West Ham have also released keeper Joseph Anang, but remain in talks with Ben Johnson and Divin Mubama over new deals.
The other seven names to leave are all academy prospects.
They are Jacob Knightbridge, Keenan Appiah-Forson, Dan Chesters, Liam Jones, Jerry Umolu, Seb Boothe and Blaise Uwandji.
Ogbonna was loved by the West Ham faithful, ever-present at the heart of their back line for six seasons.
He joined from Juventus in 2015 for £10million having just won back-to-back Serie A titles.
Ogbonna brought that experience with him to West Ham who have gone on to enjoy trophy success of their own.
Under David Moyes, they claimed the Europa Conference League last season, 12 months after reaching the Europa League semi-finals.
And last month Ogbonna spoke about the progression of the club.
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He said: “It’s a totally different West Ham.
“As a human being, everyone wants more, but you need to understand people that work here have given everything in the transition to try to change things.
“We have got international players and now we’re standing and everyone knows West Ham around the world.
“This, I think is a very, very, very, very good result and a great build-up.”
West Ham’s departures come amid links with a number of potential arrivals.
With new manager Julen Lopetegui at the helm, Sevilla duo Youssef En-Nesyri and Marcos Acuna are being mooted with switches to the London club.
More exits are also expected in the coming weeks as Michail Antonio and Aaron Cresswell are reportedly on the way out.