Allowing Marcus Browne to leave shows West Ham Academy issue

West Ham are on the verge of moving Marcus Browne, an English, homegrown attacking midfielder to Middlesbrough of the Championship. This transfer signals an issue with West Ham’s renowned Academy of Football.

Marcus Browne is exactly the player you’d expect to make it through the West Ham system and get a shot on the first team. He’s exciting, he’s skillful, he’s a solid finisher, he has an attitude that fuels his play, and he has an injury record too. Classic West Ham.

Why then, are West Ham moving on from the 21-year-old when the team is already thin on squad depth?

light. Related Story. What Marcus Browne's departure means for West Ham's transfer window

The initial and easy answer is that the first team is well covered in his position of attacking midfielder. The list is long and very talented with Manuel Lanzini, Pablo Fornals, and Jack Wilshere all battling it out for two positions. As well, Mark Noble also will factor into the first team and can play advanced midfield positions too.

The other answer is that in modern football at least, 21-year-olds should either force their way into their Premier League team’s plan and if not should be sold down to their level. While harsh, this is largely true, but my issue comes with this stance and this subsequent questions: Has Marcus Browne not impressed enough for a shot?

When with West Ham’s Premier League 2 team, Browne had 20 goal contributions (9 goals, 11 assists) in 41 matches. He spent time as team captain and his near one goal contribution every two matches rate is impressive.

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When out on loan with Oxford in League One, as well, he managed to rack up ten goal contributions in 34 matches. While not as impressive as his PL2 record, Browne was kept out of 11 matches due to injury and had to earn his way back with limited minutes along the way.

The stats are there but the opportunity hasn’t been from Bilic, Moyes, and now Pellegrini. Perhaps it’s an attitude issue, but the boy has been overlooked.

With Grady Diangana capitalizing on a limited look last season, and with Declan Rice getting a chance two seasons prior due to first-team injuries, Browne has had exactly zero Premier League appearances.

The real issue (in my eyes) is that with the revolving door or managers, there has been very little consistency with how the Academy should be used and stocked. It’s well known that Slaven Bilic rarely saw the youngsters play during his tenure at West Ham. In his defense, he was focused on closing out the Boelyn era appropriately and then quickly needed to fight off elimination.

Reece Oxford was Bilic’s man from the academy, however, and saw a few starts under the Croatian manager. Next up was Moyes who, like Bilic, was forced into a relegation battle. It’s hard to trust kids when relegation is pressing in on you, but Moyes didn’t have a choice and Declan Rice got a shot due to injury.

Pellegrini has brought in Mesaque Dju and Xande Silva, two Portuguese attackers, thus far into his time at West Ham. Hopefully, Pellegrini’s willingness to use Diangana, keep Nathan Holland, allow Ben Johnson to get opportunities, and trust in Rice shows a turning of the page and some needed stability in Hammers’ minor league system.

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As it stands, though, Marcus Browne is a talented attacker and might have fallen victim to the managerial turnover at West Ham over the past five years. Unfortunately, he’s now deemed too old to be an academy prospect, too unproven to mix into the Premier League team, and thus too redundant to keep. Shame, this one is.

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