Does Robert Snodgrass have a future at West Ham?

As the Dimitri Payet situation was reaching its fever pitch, rumors about West Ham United being interested in Hull City’s best player, Robert Snodgrass, started to appear. It sort of made sense, Snodgrass was a winger who could provide brilliance from corners and free-kicks and Hull was staring relegation right in the face. After Payet left the club, fans were excited to see if Snodgrass could recapture some of the magic that made him the best player on a struggling Hull team during the first half of the season.

Fast-forward to the end of the season, and Snodgrass has not started a match in weeks, and has only made token appearances in the past few games. Snodgrass doesn’t have the speed or athleticism to play on the wing in a 3-4-3 and the Hammers have a number of better options up front, with Andre Ayew and Manuel Lanzini having cemented their starting places alongside Andy Carroll (when fit) or Jonathan Calleri. Snodgrass will likely not start either of the next two matches, and when next season rolls around, it’s doubtful that Snodgrass grabs a starting place in the team.

So should the Hammers keep Snodgrass around as a squad player, someone on the bench who can start matches when the first option is out injured? At his wage, one would hope not. He is rumored to be one of the highest paid players at West Ham, which has supposedly caused some friction in the squad. It doesn’t make sense to keep him around if he’s going to be one of the top earners at the club.

While the market for Snodgrass won’t necessarily be great, he could be a good player on another team that sets up a lot of the play to focus on his strengths. Hull seemed to run their attacks through him, and he responded by having a remarkable number of goals and assists. Another Premier League team, maybe one of the newly promoted teams like Brighton & Hove Albion or Newcastle, or even a team like Burnley might be interested in his services. At the very least, he could provide a Championship team that just missed out on the playoffs or loses in the playoffs an attacking presence and dead-ball mastery that could help lift them into the Premier League.

But at this point, Snodgrass needs to move on. He’s an established player that probably doesn’t like coming off the bench, and would want to play to keep his spot in the Scotland national team. No reason for him to sit on the bench at West Ham, there are plenty of young players who can provide a spark off the bench for one-third of the price.