West Ham board were 'concerned' by Nuno Espirito Santo's treatment of player

A sorry season came to a sorry end for West Ham United as they were relegated from the Premier League on the final day of the season.

The Hammers showed fight to defeat Leeds United 3-0 on Sunday afternoon, but it proved to be in vain as local rivals Tottenham Hotspur survived thanks to a victory of their own over Everton.

West Ham face a busy summer to prepare for their return to Championship football, with The Athletic stating the club must raise £150 million in player sales to help compensate for the huge loss in revenue. Crysencio Summerville, Konstantinos Mavropanos and Mateus Fernandes have already been tipped for transfers.

It will also be interesting to see what happens with James Ward-Prowse, who spent the second half of the season on loan at fellow relegated side Burnley. The 31-year-old was told he had no role to play as soon as Nuno Espirito Santo arrived at the club, with the West Ham board reportedly 'concerned' about how he was alienated.

The report claimed that when Nuno spoke to players after his first training session, he told Ward-Prowse in private that he would not feature as part of his plans and would have to train by himself until a transfer was agreed. The club board was worried by the bold decision but knew that they had to back the manager, given that they had appointed him.

Ward-Prowse was not the only player cut adrift by the former Wolves boss. Ahead of the costly 3-0 defeat to Wolves in early January, Nuno also had a disagreement with Callum Wilson and later informed the striker he was free to leave the club. The problem was that he needed Wilson to lead the line in the forthcoming match and made him play the entirety of the damaging defeat.

Wilson went on to score a dramatic winner in the 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur later that month, which led the board to block any possibility of an exit in the January window. Their relegation plight could have been even worse had that transfer been allowed to happen.

Nuno also clashed with defender Jean-Clair Todibo, who informed the manager he would not play for him again after he was substituted just 25 minutes into their 3-1 loss to Newcastle a week ago. The French defender took issue when he was sacrificed for Taty Castellanos in the demoralising defeat and was left out of the matchday squad entirely for the victory over Leeds.

West Ham made Nuno the highest-paid manager in the club's history when he was appointed on a three-year deal, but included a clause that would see a significant salary reduction in the event of relegation and the option to sack him without compensation should it happen. They have some huge decisions to make this summer.