Slaven Bilic names player he had at West Ham who was similar to Declan Rice. Slaven Bilic has outlined the lack of focus by Reece Oxford and those around him as the reason behind his downfall at West Ham.
Oxford burst onto the footballing scene at West Ham as a 16-year-old who appeared to have all the necessary attributes to reach the top of the sport, but an attitude problem was highlighted by those at the club – something which Oxford later hit back at.
West Ham to SACK Lopetegui? – O’Rourke: Graham…
Having made his league debut against an Arsenal side littered with talent, big things were expected of the teen, but things began to fizzle out very quickly and Bilic has explained why as he compared his situation to that of Declan Rice.
“He had great potential and was very similar to Declan Rice who came through one year after,” Bilic explained via talkSPORT (10 December).
“Declan and the people around Declan were more focused and focused only on football and you can see how that developed his career.”
West Ham must utilise their academy more often
Rice and Oxford are just two of many, many players to have risen through the academy at West Ham and shown plenty of promise. Of course, the former is now known by many as one of the best midfielders in the world and much of that is down to the progress made while with the Hammers.
However, almost since the emergence of Rice, the Irons just haven’t utilised their academy to its full potential and the pathway for young players seems to have diminished.
In fact, the Hammers are one of the worst clubs in the Premier League when it comes to minutes given to their academy prospects in recent times.
It’s hard to believe that the club don’t have the next big thing in their academy, but unless Julen Lopetegui begins to integrate them into the first-team environment, any potential will be ruined and/or lost to another club.
Divin Mubama at West Ham United [Credit: @divinmubama on Instagram]
West Ham have already signed off on exits of some of their most promising academy prospects, with Divin Mubama, Aji Alese and Pierre Ekwah all securing moves elsewhere and thriving for the large part.
The Hammers need to showcase a clear pathway for their own academy.
In other West Ham news, a new timeline on the sackingof Lopetegui has emerged.
