Dean Ashton came back to form towards the end of the season
after a long injury lay-off.
West Ham United will open talks on Friday with Dean
Ashton, their most valuable playing asset, about an extension to
his contract, with the striker, who is far from being one of the
club's highest earners, hoping for a substantial pay rise. The
24-year-old has two years left on his deal but has been anxious for
several months to sort out his future.
The Premier League club took the unusual step yesterday of
confirming when the talks were scheduled for. It shows the
sensitivity over losing Ashton and also West Ham's keenness,
following a board meeting on Monday, to keep the £7.25m striker who
has just been called into Fabio Capello's squad and who has a very
real chance of staking a claim as England's main
centre-forward.
Ashton is hugely popular with West Ham fans and the decision to
announce the talks may have been influenced by the fact that the
club has just sent out season ticket renewal packs. However, Scott
Duxbury, the chief executive, said: "The end of the season was the
appropriate time to discuss such matters and to meet Dean Ashton
and his representatives. We will sit down on Friday with a view to
agreeing a new long-term contract."
Ashton wants to stay but is understood to earn less than a third
of the wages commanded by the club's highest-earner, Fredrik
Ljungberg who is paid £85,000-a-week. West Ham have, however,
described as "utter rubbish" claims that the Swedish international
has been offered a £3m pay-off to cancel the rest of his three-year
contract.
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