West Ham United delay Danny Ings January loan exit following new injury blow
West Ham have delayed talks over a January loan exit for Danny Ings to join Wolves as they await an update on the extent of Michail Antonio’s injury blow, according to The Standard.
The newspaper reported via their website on 8 January that West Ham are carrying out further assessments on Antonio’s knee injury to establish how much longer he will be ruled out.
Antonio’s injury has David Moyes short of options to spearhead his side, with Mohammed Kudus at the African Cup of Nations and Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta suffering injuries against Bristol City, and may need to call upon Ings.
Caught between a rock and a hard place
On one hand, the Hammers need to get Ings off the books. It has been reported [HITC, 8 January] that the striker is the highest earner at the club, and given his lack of game time or effectiveness when he does play, they must get him out of the club.
However, after the blow to Antonio and potential injuries to Paqueta and Bowen too, an exit for Ings would mean Moyes was left with 19-year-old Divin Mubama as his only option to lead the line in the Premier League.
While they may provide an opportunity for the highly-rated youngster to step up, there is no evidence that he can be trusted as the starting striker for a sustained period in senior football, and Moyes has been reluctant to put faith in him so far.
Fingers will be crossed both at the London Stadium and at Wolves that Antonio’s injury isn’t as serious as feared, and the same goes for Bowen and Paqueta, which would allow the move for Ings to go through in January.
In other West Ham news, Jeff Stelling exploded at one Hammers fan live on talkSPORT.