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West Ham United ace Emmanuel Longelo shares amazing Mark Noble gesture after debut
West Ham United club captain Mark Noble is set to hang up his boots at the end of the season and he will leave a huge hole in the team at Rush Green.
The 34-year-old has had to take a back seat this season with Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek controlling the midfield for the Irons but he has featured semi-regularly off the bench and in rotated sides.
One of those rare starts came in the Europa League group stage game against Dinamo Zagreb where David Moyes made wholesale changes and handed out a number of debuts.
One of those to make their first appearances for the Hammers was defender Emmanuel Longelo and he shared what the skipper did after the game that epitomises the great man.
The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas was asking for supporters’ best memories of Noble on Twitter and Longelo replied with “When he gave me his shirt after my UEL debut.”
Keep him around
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This season is probably the best for him to retire from playing as he has seemed overawed by the sheer energy needed to keep up with modern Premier League football.
His age is starting to catch up with him and the little playing time he does get is not going to please him.
But rather than see him go off and do something else, the Hammers really need him to remain a part of the football club in the coaching department to imprint his love and desire onto the rest of the players.
Not only the senior side but also every single academy player at the club, right down to the six or seven-year-olds who are just making their way in the game and would be in awe of such a player making an appearance at their games.
Everyone can learn something from our skipper and the longer he remains around the club, the better off we will be.
In other West Ham news, this defender has only a 50% chance of making the Irons’ Europa League second leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
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