West Ham quartet tipped to have 'second thoughts about leaving' due to Daniel Kretinsky move

Daniel Kretinsky's funding could allow West Ham to prevent the exits of some of their key stars ahead of next season.

That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the Czech businessman has the resources to "bridge the financial gap" that will come after relegation.

This comes after the news that the 50-year-old has agreed a deal to become the largest shareholder at the East London outfit.

Wyness believes that he may have the power to prevent the "fire sale" that has been expected in the coming months, and keep the exits down to around five or six players.

The likes of Mateus Fernandes, Jarrod Bowen and Crysencio Summerville have all been linked with high-profile moves away, while many more players are facing uncertain futures.

Nevertheless, Kretinsky's funding is said to hold the key to avoiding a major rebuild, as the Hammers look to bounce back to the top flight at the first attempt.

Everton’s former chief Wyness - who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs - believes that West Ham were previously staring down the barrel of losing at least eight of their key senior players ahead of 2026-27.

Instead, he now believes that there may only be around five players who move on to a new club this summer.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness emphasised that with Kretinsky's funding at the helm, the club are likely to be able to keep the likes of Mads Hermansen and Tomas Soucek.

"Kretinsky has got the financial resources to be able to do this, and he can bridge the financial gap. He doesn't have to sell players to sustain the club, as was one scenario when the relegation first happened," he said.

"He hasn't got to cut the wages quite as dramatically as he would have had to as well. Whereas there would have been a fire sale of probably about seven or eight players, I think you may see players like Bowen, Soucek, Kyle Walker-Peters, and Hermansen have second thoughts about leaving.

"That sort of player is the backbone of a Championship team that can bounce back up. I think you'll still see the likes of Fernandes, Summerville go.

"(Jean-Clair) Todibo, (El Hadji Malick) Diouf and (Alphonse) Areola, I think they will be going. So there will be some movement. But I think West Ham may now be looking at possibly five or six out and five or six in."

Former Hammers scout Mick Brown told Football Insider earlier this week that Nuno Espirito Santo has already told Pablo that he is not part of his plans for next season.

The club are now preparing to offload the struggling striker as quickly as possible this summer, and have accepted that they will have to take a loss to get him out the door.

West Ham paid £24million to sign him from Gil Vicente back in January, but Brown is adamant that any fee this time around won't be close to that figure.

Pablo has already been linked with a move to Wolves in recent days, and Nuno already appears perfectly happy to see that one go through.