West Ham United: Birmingham City perfect place for Emmanuel Longelo
Emmanuel Longelo has needed a loan away from West Ham United for some time but he finally got it over the summer transfer window.
The left-back headed for the Midlands and Championship outfit Birmingham City for the season after careful consideration from the Under-21 coaches at Rush Green.
Among them was Mark Robson who used his knowledge of the people at St Andrew’s to finally decide that it was the right place for Longelo to go for the next step in his career.
“He’s a good lad Manny, a laid-back type of guy but a really good kid,” he said to Birmingham Live. “He wants to learn, wants to get better and I know there are really good coaches at Birmingham, Keith Downing I know will be a massive help to Manny around the defending side of his game.
“I worked with Keith at England, he is one of the best coaches I have seen defensively. I couldn’t think [of a better place], when you look at Manny we know how good he can be going forward and he has improved a lot on his defending but there is still stuff to go at.”
Last chance
At 21 years of age, Longelo is rapidly running out of time to make a significant impact at Rush Green and this loan may even be his last chance to do so.
Aaron Cresswell has been a very tough player to budge at the London Stadium having been such a consistent performer at left-back but there were signs of struggle towards the back end of last season.
That could have been Longelo’s way in but David Moyes opted to bring in Chelsea outcast Emerson Palmieri for £15million to create competition at left-back and Maxwel Cornet’s ability to fill in makes things even harder.
Even a season that sees the 21-year-old inspire Birmingham to a decent finish in the second tier might not be enough to keep him under contract at West Ham.
After a good display in the Europa League group stages last season, things have stalled for Longelo and the train may be about to leave the station for the final time.