According to Sky Sports, teenage defender Jeremy Ngakia is close to joining Watford from West Ham.
Ngakia only made his Hammers debut in February but failed to agree a new deal and now looks set to drop into the Championship.
We’ve looked at three players who should regret leaving east London, which should be a cautionary tale for Ngakia this summer…
Domingos Quina
Quina’s tale is especially pertinent to Ngakia, because he made the exact same switch from West Ham to Watford.
As per Transfermarkt, Quina got just four Premier League apperances for the Hornets last season, for a total of 18 minutes.
He was a highly-rated playmaker when he left the Hammers only to find himself scratching around for minutes at Vicarage Road.
Ngakia needs to be careful that he doesn’t end up in the same situation.
Diafra Sakho
Sakho left West Ham for Rennes in January 2018 (BBC), but scored just two league goals across two years at the French club.
That means he may have been better served staying at the club where he netted 24 times in 71 matches across all competitions.
He is currently in the Swiss Super League at Neuchâtel Xamax, having signed a short term deal in June 2020.
Sakho is still only 30, but his career has nosedived since leaving east London.
Mo Diame
Back in April 2014, Diame was quoted by Sky Sports stating he had ambitions grander than West Ham and that he wanted to join a top-six side.
In September 2014, he signed for Hull.
They were subsequently relegated at the end of that season, and Diame spent the 2015/16 season in the Championship, having been dreaming of the Champions League.
Then, he signed up for another year in the second tier, moving from promoted Hull to relegated Newcastle, by whom he was released in 2019.
He now plays for Al-Ahli in Qatar, and his post-West Ham trajectory has been confusing to say the least.
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