West Ham are understood to be considering the option of cutting Marcus Browne’s loan spell at Oxford United short to bring him into the first team fold at the London Stadium.
The 20-year-old attacking midfielder has been in impressive form for the League One side, with four goals and two assists to his name already this season.
Such has been the impact he has made at the Kassam Stadium, it is thought that the Hammers have considered recalling him early to feature in the remainder of their Premier League campaign.
Speaking on the West Ham Way podcast, serial in-the-know blogger exWHUemployee said:”Marcus Browne’s an interesting one. He’s been on fire for Oxford at the moment, and there is possibility that he could be brought back.
“The club are thinking about it, but they almost want him to continue there, have a great season at Oxford and then come back preseason.”
Browne made his debut for the Hammers back in 2016, coming off the bench in a 1-1 Europa League qualifying round draw with Romanian side Astra Giurgiu.
Opinion
Browne is evidently a talent, and at the age of 20 he’s approaching a point in his career where most top players have made their first team breakthrough. West Ham have a fine tradition of producing top talent and the belief is clearly there that Browne can continue in that vein. The advantages of bringing him back early are debatable, however. There’s a worrying trend in English football at the moment to overhype young players as soon as they find any kind of form, and in the long run this can be detrimental to their development. In all likelihood, Browne would not walk straight into a staring berth at West Ham this season, and he would be far better continuing his development as a first team regular in League One than as a bit-part player in the Premier League. As hinted towards by exWHUemployee, the most prudent course of action would be to allow the midfielder to finish the season at Oxford and then reconsider his role at the London Stadium in the summer.