West Ham have released a video if the squad in training ahead of their match with Burnley on the weekend and an old star makes a surprise appearance.
In the video current stars such as Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma, Manuel Lanzini and co can be seen training as normal. The surprise inclusion is Winston Reid. The Kiwi has returned from his loan spell in the MLS and has been expected to be on his way out of West Ham this month or at the latest the summer.
Reid is a cult-hero at the club. The centre-back has been at the club for a decade and scored a winning goal against arch-rivals Millwall. The defender’s crowning moment, however, was scoring the winning goal against Manchester United in the last ever match at the Boylen Ground.
After struggling with injuries for the best part of three years, Reid was loaned out to MLS side Sporting Kansas City. In the states, Reid has regained his fitness and is looking to play regular football again. Some fans are hoping that Reid can earn a spot at the Hammers again for one last hurrah as he deserves a proper send-off.
Hard work and positive attitudes 💪
— West Ham United (@WestHam) January 15, 2021
Final preparations ahead of #WHUBUR pic.twitter.com/FY4Can6hqU
In the training video, Reid can be seen joining in with the squad’s drills. Most notably in classic hardman Reid fashion, he is one of only three players that are wearing shorts without thermal joggers underneath. The other two are fellow centre-back Craig Dawson and right-back Ryan Fredericks.
Reid still has a significant amount of time left on his current contract with the club. The current deal is set to expire in 2023. The 32-year-old is on relatively high-wages and the club may want to part ways in order to get him off their books.
If the defender can prove himself again however he could play a key role for the club during the remainder of the season. In a time when multiple players can miss games at a moments notice due to COVID, having plenty of back-ups is no bad thing.
The other positives from the video are seeing Fredericks and Lukasz Fabianski back in training. The English right-back has returned from self-isolating and Fabianski has been absent since pulling out of the Everton match during the warm-up.