By Daniel Feliciano

29th Jan, 2023 | 6:10pm

Journalist blames West Ham United for behind the scenes issues as Harrison Ashby set for Newcastle United transfer

West Ham are to blame for behind the scenes issues involving Harrison Ashby which has led to his exit to Newcastle, according to journalist Roshane Thomas.

The Hammers have agreed a deal worth £3m plus a percentage of a future sale to allow the young defender to leave the club, after he refused to sign a new contract at the club and looked set to leave for free in the summer.

But after a fan account labelled him a “brat” on Twitter after the spat between the player and the club, The Athletic journalist Thomas came to his defence and claimed it was a “poor” decision to let him leave.

“He’s far from a brat pal,” he wrote on his personal Twitter account (29 January).

“A lot has gone on behind the scenes and I don’t blame Ashby for wanting to leave. West Ham are letting go a real good prospect. Poor decision [in my opinion].”

Interesting

It’s rare that a journalist comes out in defence of a player who has been having issues at the club behind the scenes, so Thomas must know something the rest of us don’t.

A Scotland under-21 international, Ashby has impressed in the handful of first-team appearances that he has had for West Ham, but he hasn’t had the best level of opposition having not made a Premier League appearance in his career to date.

However, there are several options ahead of him in the pecking order including the likes of Ben Johnson and Emerson Palmieri who are younger than current first-team options Aaron Cresswell and Vladimir Coufal.

But he obviously wasn’t in the club’s plans to get first-team action any time soon, so it makes total sense that everyone has a clean break and goes on with their career separately.

West Ham won’t miss Ashby immediately, but they’ll be hoping he doesn’t turn into the world beater that Newcastle think he can or they’ll be kicking themselves.