Hammers insider ExWHUemployee has been speaking on The West Ham Way podcast about how Conor Coventry should be given a chance at the London Stadium.
West Ham United are set to lose long-time servant and captain Mark Noble in the summer when his contract expires, and while he doesn’t feature that much for the Hammers under David Moyes, his voice, experience and availability as backup will surely be a huge loss.
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Moyes usually opts for a midfield duo of Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek, and with neither of them getting old and the duo helping West Ham challenge at the right end of the table in recent seasons, having another youthful midfield option to learn mainly from Rice could be seen a benefit to them and the club.
That is where Coventry could come into play, as the 21-year-old has only started four league games during his current loan spell at Peterborough United, and if that isn’t going to change, he may be better off working with the first team at West Ham to then potentially integrate him into the side if he’s good enough.
Ex would like to see Coventry at least handed a chance to prove his worth to West Ham.
“Noble’s going at the end of the year, I think Coventry is a very similar player to Noble, I would try my best to get him to that standard. If you stick him around for another year, and it doesn’t work out, he’ll be 22, move him on then – but at least give him a chance.
“I think because he’s playing brilliantly for Ireland Under-21s, he did really well for us in pre-season – I’d say he was one of our best players in pre-season. So let’s just get him back.”
TIF Thoughts on Coventry and West Ham United’s midfield option…
If Coventry isn’t able to break into a struggling Peterborough team, then it is arguably unlikely that he could dislodge one of Rice or Soucek, or even be preferred to the likes of veteran Noble or rarely-seen summer signing Alex Kral, so potentially a different loan deal would be better than him just sitting in the reserves or on the bench for the rest of the season.
However, at 21 years old, he will surely be looking to start kicking on in the coming months or year if he seriously wants to make it at the London Stadium, otherwise the Hammers may just look to sell him on to a team lower down the footballing pyramid, especially if West Ham are able to continue their push for a spot in Europe.
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