ExWHUemployee has claimed that Nathan Holland’s chances of making it as a West Ham United player are slim now due to his age.
Ahead of the start of the current season, the young winger was sent out on loan to Oxford United for the entirety of the campaign.
The 23-year-old has been in and out of the team this season, starting 15 League One games to date, but has failed to come off the bench in some recent matches – including the 1-0 away win over Crewe Alexandra earlier this week.
While talking about the player on The West Ham Way podcast, Ex explained how Holland’s inability to shine for Oxford despite now being in his early 20s means he will find it had to come back and break into the West Ham team.
He said: “Just the Saturday game this week for Oxford, who came out on top against Charlton in a 4-0 win. Unfortunately, Holland was not involved. He made the bench but he did not come on.
“So obviously he’s a sub for a League One side. It’s gonna be hard for Nathan to come back, especially given his age, and start to really prove that he’s going to be good enough for West Ham, which is sad.
“I think back in the day when he was breaking through alongside [Grady] Diangana, he was ahead of Diangana. Obviously Diangana took his chance and kicked on. And injuries held Nathan back.”
TIF Thoughts on Nathan Holland and West Ham…
Holland did actually go on loan to Oxford before, but that spell lasted only two months before he tore his hamstring. It’s a shame that he hasn’t been able to truly prove his worth during his time with the club more recently.
Taking all that into account, it’s hard to argue with Ex’s assertion that the 23-year-old probably hasn’t done enough on loan to show his parent club that he is of a level to come back and make an impact in the Premier League.
Will Nathan Holland ever make it at West Ham?
Yes
No
Saying that, Holland has already played twice in the league for the Hammers back in the 2019/20 season. Even so, with no Premier League appearances since then and a failure to develop greatly on loan, his time with the Irons may be coming to an end in the near future.
In other news: Go all out, GSB: Emerging Moyes target makes West Ham star look ordinary – opinion