Slaven Bilic Tells West Ham Players it's Time to Compete for Places in His Squad

West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has let his players know that it's time to show their worth in order to get picked for his squad ahead of next season.

Bilic took more than 25 players to Germany for pre-season affairs, leaving Michail Antonio, Chiekou Kouyate and Andy Carroll to work on their fitness in England.

Jan Kruger/GettyImages

But the coach is only able to register 18 players for his Premier League squad; and with less than two weeks to go until their opener against Manchester United, things are getting nervy.

“All the players are happy now,” Bilic told the Hammers' official website. “It’s a pre-season and it’s the same in every club – they train brilliantly and all that and they are all hoping they are going to play and be starters in our team.

“Then, of course, only eleven or maybe 14 will think ‘I’m there’ probably, almost definitely, some players will notice that they are not regulars in the beginning of the season, so maybe a few of them will not be happy and some of them will ask for a move, so we’ve got to be ready for that.

“It’s my job to think about the team first and foremost and you have to expect these things to happen in every club. When it happens, you have to be ready with some players that are interesting for us and who are not going to be regulars at their clubs!”

West Ham have had an amazing summer in terms of transfers. The club recently announced the signings of Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez, also bringing in Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta.

It could be a very interesting season for Bilic and his Hammers and many are expecting them to shock the rest of the Premier League.