West Ham starlet Oxford unlikely to remain at club in January
West Ham have a history of producing talented youngsters. However in recent years there have been a few disappointments in recent years, and none more so than Reece Oxford.
If football has ‘What if’ halls of fame, it might be that Reece Oxford is destine to be inducted before the end of his career. When he made his West Ham debut in the Premier League opener under new manager Slaven Bilic there seemed to be a player who was destined for the big time. He seemed calm and collected at the tender age of 16. But since then it’s not quite worked out.
He made a few appearances over that season, but didn’t seem to quite be ready for the Premier League in terms of physicality. That being said there was no doubt from the Hammers’ faithful that he would get bigger over the season and be the man they needed in a years time. But that didn’t happen.
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Now it seems that Oxford is likely to leave the club in January as he is still struggling to make any headway in the West Ham setup. Pellegrini commented at the end of November that he did not consider Oxford good enough to train regularly with the first team, but that if a player wants to make it at 19-20 he should be involved with the first team more often than not.
It follows a number of stories over the past 12 months about Oxford’s attitude and desire to leave, to go back to Germany where he had a semi-successful loan period with Monchengladbach. However it also seems that Premier League champions Manchester City are also interested in bringing the youngster in. That really would be a shock. I don’t think Oxford is good enough to play at the level required of City youngsters.
Next. Hammers must sort Rice contract. dark
As it stands if Pellegrini doesn’t think he can make it I am comfortable with selling him. Some other clubs may want to take a punt, but we’ve obviously collected a lot of evidence over the last few years. Even if it’s the fact he doesn’t want to play, what can we do to change that? Either way I don’t think the Hammers should look to keep him. Move him on, focus on those who want to play/are making the grade and the club will benefit overall.