Manchester City sign Jamal Baptiste after West Ham United exit – Fabrizio Romano
Jamal Baptiste has signed for Manchester City on a free transfer after leaving West Ham, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The journalist reported via Twitter on Saturday afternoon (2 September) that the young defender had put pen to paper at the Etihad and was now being loaned out to Lommel in Belgium.
The 19-year-old defender left the London Stadium earlier this summer having made two senior appearances for the club.
He completes his move the day after the close of the transfer window as a free agent and is set to move to another club in the City Group.
Next step
Bapstite clearly didn’t feel his future lay at the London Stadium after coming through the youth teams, and after he saw no first-team action last season he was perhaps right.
David Moyes spent the start of the previous campaign dealing with an injury crisis in defence, and continued to look for reinforcements this summer.
But while the youngster found a place on the bench at times he wasn’t generally given an opportunity to make the step up, and has yet to see action in the Premier League.
He will still have to wait for that having signed with Pep Guardiola’s side if he is first headed to Belgium, and whether he ends up moving on again before making his real breakthrough remains to be seen.
Moyes gave youngsters such as Divin Mubama and Ollie Scarles opportunities in the Europa Conference League group stage last term, but tends to prefer experience.
With the likes of Sonny Perkins also leaving in the past year it might be a byproduct of the Scot being in charge, if players don’t feel there is enough of a pathway to first-team football.
But the senior side is currently looking back to something like it’s best so if that continues the 60-year-old won’t be going anywhere soon.
In other West Ham news, a summer signing was given assurances by Tim Steidten on another star man to sign for the club.