West Ham’s on loan trio have not had a good time of things so far.
Reece Oxford, Reece Burke and Josh Cullen are some of the top hopes of our academy lineup. Whilst they’re all at different stages in their career, all three loan moves this season could well be considered failures. Is there an issue with overhyping youngsters at West Ham?
When Oxford was heading out on loan in the summer reports were saying Monchengladbach wanted him on a two year loan. That’s how much they valued his talent. They thought he was something special to bring in and work with for twice the normal loan time. But he is set to return in December. Where did it go wrong?
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Three Loans, All Failing
When it comes to sending young players on loan, it should only be done in certain circumstances. Firstly, the club taking them on loan should have a contractual and probably financial obligation to play the youngster regularly. Secondly, the youngster should be good enough for that level of football. That is, he shouldn’t be sent to struggle, or to laze about in a league below his talent. All three loans this summer seemed to be OK on the face of it.
The Reece Oxford loan is by far the most worrying. Gladbach previously loaned Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen, albeit when he was slightly older, for two years. In that time he played 63 games and was clearly good enough for them. However Oxford has been deemed, after two months, to not be good enough. Is he as good as our coaching staff think? Or did he not adapt as well to a foreign league? Either way there are now question marks above Oxford that weren’t there before.
For Burke and Cullen, both players I thought could have been on the fringes of the first team at West Ham this year, to be on the bench for bottom of the Championship table Bolton is also worrying. Are these players not good enough? Do we have an issue with the club’s youth coaches building up the hype around young players? Or maybe, because they will return in January, Bolton boss Parkinson wants to build a consistent side?
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Either way, I think there are issues with our youngsters. Whilst I believe that we have talent, and loans can work, we must be careful. The club can’t afford to waste talented players by overlooking simple details.