View: Ben Johnson likely to start in West Ham v Rapid Wien
Ben Johnson may be in line to start at right-back for West Ham against Rapid Wien on Thursday night.
Ryan Fredericks was taken off due to an injury against Manchester United and was spotted training alone on Wednesday.
With Vladimir Coufal expected to be rested as he has played in all the league games this season, the 21-year-old Johnson could be handed a rare start for the Hammers.
David Moyes is known to be a firm believer in promising youth prospects and it’s clear for everyone to see just how highly he rates Johnson.
Throughout the summer, there were no real links to any right-back and that could be down to the fact that the Scotsman envisages a first-team role for the young English full-back in the coming months.
Johnson may be a right-back by trade but he is just as capable of playing at left-back.
Fredericks is also 28 so is unlikely to get any better in the coming years.
Also, his sell-on value is not going to be the same in a couple of seasons so the club may decide to cash in on him.
It makes sense to do that given Johnson’s promising performances for the Under-23s and hopefully, we can see him thrive for the first-team with a good performance in the Europa League.
Players at his age could be even converted into playing different positions so we won’t be surprised if a few years down the line we see him playing as a right or left winger for the Hammers.
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