West Ham to Release Ljungberg

The Daily Mail claim West Ham will pay £6 million pound to release Ljungberg from his contract because they no longer wish to pay his wages.

The paper say West Ham pay Ljungberg £85,000 a week and he would cost the club £8.84m in wages if he sees out the remaining two years of his contract. They say Curbishley has told the player he no longer figures in West Ham's first team plans but Ljungberg was happy to sit out his contract so West Ham have been unable to sell him and are forced to buy out his contract.

The paper seems certain that Ljungberg is now a free agent. They say he has not been part of West Ham's pre-season programme and is understood to be back home in Sweden 'weighing up a number of options'. Presumably the club are waiting for season ticket holders to renew their tickets before telling the fans.

Not to doubt the veracity of The Daily Mail's reporting but they reported that Ljungberg was on £65,000 a week when he signed for us. I therefore think that there is an element of truth in all this (Ljungberg can't really have been hiding out in Quashie's pad all summer) but I suspect that The Daily Mail have wildly exaggerated the sums involved.

The Daily Mail also claim Kieron Dyer is out until November and that Craig Bellamy is out for up to two months. I'm sure there could be some creative accounting go on here as well by The Daily Mail.