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West Ham United want to sign Middlesbrough attacker Isaiah Jones
West Ham are in the hunt to sign versatile Middlesbrough winger Isaiah Jones but look set for disappointment in their pursuit of the Lambeth-born ace, according to Football League World.
The EFL-centred news outlet reports on their website on 27 October that West Ham and Crystal Palace have both been showing an interest in the former Tooting & Mitcham attacker, who’s been dubbed as “one of the brightest talents in this country outside of the Premier League”.
However, it is understood that Middlesbrough will not sell Jones in January so any move for the 23-year-old won’t happen until at least next summer.
Antonio 2.0?
Jones isn’t a striker but he’s started off his career in a similar way to Michail Antonio did, playing as a right-back, wing-back or right-winger in the EFL.
Antonio, 32, was also born in South London and started his career at Tooting & Mitcham so it’s clear to see why there’d be comparisons to the Irons forward.
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Jones is an exciting young player.
He’s played 57 times in the Championship now for Middlesbrough and this season has seen him score two goals and supplied three assists in 15 second-tier outings.
The London-born flyer has pretty much been playing anywhere down the right flank and that could come in handy for West Ham, who’ve seen Vladimir Coufal’s form stutter in the last few months and Ben Johnson be used in a central role.
Speaking in May, as quoted by The 72, Dael Fry raved about Jones.
He said: “We’ve got Isaiah Jones on the right who’s been fantastic. We’ve got talented players all over the pitch. We had to run ourselves into the ground and that’s what we did.”
According to WhoScored, he’s a “very strong” dribbler who’s also good at key passes and through ball while also maintaining a good standard of defensive play.
We feel he’d be a top addition at West Ham but new Boro manager Michael Carrick probably won’t want to sell his star player midway through a relegation battle in the Championship.