Ben Johnson embarrassed by David Moyes on Friday, West Ham United January exit surely on the cards
David Moyes embarrassingly sent Ben Johnson to play with the West Ham Under-21’s on Friday night, surely spelling out the end of his Hammers career.
Johnson came through the Hammers academy and burst onto the first-team season three years ago, with his ability to play as both a right-back and left-back something the manager greatly admired.
But in recent times Johnson has found himself way down the pecking order in the first-team at full-back with Vladimir Coufal and Thilo Kehrer ahead of him on the right while Emerson Palmieri and Aaron Cresswell are ahead of him on the left.
There were some who expected him to leave the club in the most recent summer transfer window, with Southampton interested in a loan deal.
But a deal never materialised, and the Irons are still said to be in talks with the 23-year-old over a new contract.
However, those talks have stalled and it now looks unlikely that he will be committing his long-term future to the club and it seems Moyes has made the decision to keep him away from the senior side.
He was named on the bench for the first three games of the season but was an unused substitute in those games, before missing the game against Luton completely despite reportedly being fit and available.
Now despite facing Manchester City this afternoon, Johnson was relegated to playing with the kids on Friday night and an early exit now seems inevitable before the end of his contract in the summer.
It’s a shame because Johnson is clearly a talented defender and his versatility is crucial to the squad in a long season where we’re looking to go far in all four competitions that we’re in.
But the boss has seemingly made his decision, and Johnson won’t be playing much more in a claret and blue shirt by the looks of things.
In other West Ham news, Lawrenson predicts result of clash with Manchester City.