Credit: Imago

James Barker

Thu 26 March 2026 11:10, UK

Callum Marshall isn’t performing well enough on loan with Bochum to earn a West Ham United first-team opportunity for next season.

The 21-year-old forward left the London Stadium in early January this year, joining German 2.Bundesliga side Bochum in the hopes of getting more regular senior experience under his belt.

Marshall was plucked from Northern Irish outfit Linfield to West Ham’s academy system in January 2022, and quickly established himself as one of the Hammers’ brightest young talents.

He scored bags of goals for both West Ham’s Under-18s and Under-21 teams respectively, and eventually made his senior debut in January 2024 in an FA Cup tie with Bristol City.

Since then, he’s only made two further first-team appearances, and has made loan moves to both West Brom and Huddersfield Town respectively.

How has Callum Marshall been performing for Bochum?

Marshall impressed for West Ham in pre-season ahead of the start of this term, and made two Premier League appearances against Arsenal and Brentford in October 2025 respectively as a reward.

However, the Northern Ireland international wasn’t able to carve out a bigger first-team role from there, and so the decision was taken this winter to source him some more minutes with Bochum.

In that respect, Marshall’s loan move to Germany has been successful, as he’s so far made 10 2.Bundesliga appearances, with five of those being as part of the starting XI.

Unfortunately though, his on-field production probably hasn’t been at the level required for him to catch West Ham’s attention, ahead of what is set to be a vital pre-season for him with the Hammers.

Marshall has two goals from his 10 league appearances so far, but as per Sofascore, he’s also missed three big chances and has a goal conversion rate of 13 per cent.

He’s averaging just 24.9 touches per game, has a passing accuracy of 62 per cent, has created just the one big chance and has won only 30 per cent of his total duels this term respectively.

Therefore, if Marshall is to stake a first-team claim at the London Stadium for the 2026-27 season, he’s likely going to have to return to West Ham with those numbers having been improved considerably.

Why 2026-27 pre-season is vital for Marshall at West Ham

Marshall signed a new contract with West Ham in January 2024, which means his current deal expires in the summer of 2027.

As such, he will enter the 2026-27 pre-season with just 12 months remaining on his Hammers contract, and at 21, he’s now getting to the point where he needs to kickstart his senior career soon.

If West Ham are relegated to the Championship for next season, then a player like Marshall could be in with a big chance of winning an important first-team role in the second tier.

But even if they don’t go down, it’s getting to the stage of now or never for the Northern Irishman as a West Ham player, so he needs a big finish to his loan spell with Bochum.