OPINION
West Ham must pull out all the stops to get rid of Reece Oxford before the transfer window shuts at the end of the month.
The defender, 19, has been linked with an exit all summer but the Hammers have failed to find a buyer after reportedly placing a £10million valuation on him.
West Ham might need to at least half that asking price, or they are facing offloading the teenager on a season-long loan.
So, how did it come to this? A product of the club’s fabled academy who won the man of the match on his Premier League debut after delivering a super-composed centre-back performance on live TV against Arsenal is way down the pecking order and generating little interest?
Ex-WHU Employee, who is an outstanding source of Hammers news, revealed on the West Ham Way podcast broadcast on Phoenix FM on Wednesday night (31:50) that Championship club Bolton Wanderers have tabled a loan offer for Oxford and RB Leipzig scouted him in a Under-23s match earlier this week.
But Bolton are willing to pay just 70 per cent of Oxford’s wages for the 2018-19 season, and his salary is not the only issue.
“The problem you’ve got is you’ve got a 19-year-old on £20,0000-a-week with not the greatest of attitudes, with an agent that demands a lot of money,” Ex-WHU Employee explained. “No-one wants to buy him, so the only option is a loan.”
West Ham tied Oxford down to a new contract last year that runs until 2021.
It protected a real asset and demonstrated the club’s faith in a teenager who has already accumulated 17 senior appearances as well as five England Under-20 caps.
The problem is, like many young players, Oxford’s development has ground to a halt.
Loan spells at Borussia Mochengladbach and Reading in the last two seasons have yielded mixed results as he struggled to secure a regular starting place.
Back at West Ham this summer, he is nowhere near the first team reckoning, and two new centre-backs in Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena have been recruited at a combined cost of nearly £30million.
With Angelo Ogbonna and rising star Declan Rice also competing for the position, Oxford is not in Manuel Pellegrini’s thoughts.
Given doubts over the player’s attitude, West Ham are better off getting the youngster off the wage bill – ideally, permanently – and using the £1million-a-year on someone willing to bust a gut for the club.