West Ham United interested in Sheffield United defender Rhys Norrington-Davies
The never ending defensive injury crisis at West Ham appears to have spread to transfer targets too in Rhys Norrington-Davies.
According to a report in The Sun, the Sheffield United defender was attracting interest from the Hammers thanks to “impressive” displays in the Championship before an injury picked up in October saw him miss the World Cup with Wales.
He has now been ruled out for 10 weeks until February after undergoing surgery on a hamstring issue, obviously past the end of the January transfer window.
The 23-year-old, who is primarily a left-back but can also play in the centre, was reportedly also alerting the likes of Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Leicester before his injury.
West Ham are currently dealing with the absence of Kurt Zouma and Aaron Cresswell, and saw Nayef Aguerd taken off injured in Morocco’s last-16 victory over Spain on Tuesday night (6 December).
The £30million summer signing had just returned from surgery after a major preseason problem, as the injury problems in defence show no sign of abating, and are even ruling out potential signings like Norrington-Davies.
Future
A badly timed absence has negated both the chance to feature in Qatar and any hope of a January move to the Premier League for the Blades man.
But with Cresswell approaching his 33rd birthday there may still be a spot at left-back in the Irons squad come the end of the season, despite the signing of Emerson from Chelsea.
David Moyes will no doubt be tearing his hair out as he deals with one injury problem after another, with extensive issues centred on the back line.
Aguerd was supposed to be the answer to endless issues that plagued last season, but has been plunged into the same situation in a big way already this year.
Zouma has been a good signing from Stamford Bridge when he has been fit, but has been ruled out multiple times himself.
The unsettled nature of the defence didn’t prove to be such a huge issue last season, although it clearly didn’t help, largely thanks to the ever-presence of Craig Dawson.
But with him also looking to return to the Midlands for family reasons as well there has been nothing like continuity at the back, and it has contributed to a disjointed season that has so far proven very disappointing.