Marcus Browne is on loan at Oxford from Premier League outfit West Ham United – and Manuel Pellegrini must be aware of his remarkable progress.
Marcus Browne has long been viewed as the next diamond to emerge from a West Ham United academy who can count Michael Carrick, Jermain Defoe, Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand among their recent graduates.
And the 20-year-old showed everyone what he is capable of as he shone once again during a loan spell at League One Oxford United on Tuesday night.
Browne was absolutely scintillating as Oxford beat Rochdale 4-2 at the Kassam Stadium, taking his tally to seven for the season with a clinical brace.
U’s fans took to Twitter to rave about the attacking midfielder, simultaneously expressing fears that West Ham could recall him in the January transfer window. And Oxford teammate Cameron Branagan was similarly awe-struck.
“I’m just going to keep giving the ball to Browney, because he is a different class, everyone can see that,” Branagan, who set up Browne’s second goal, told the Oxford Mail.
“His pace, his power – their defenders didn’t know what to do.
“They were lost, you could see that, and on another day he could have had four. He did well and got man of the match, which was richly deserved.”
The London-born youngster has only made one first-team appearance for West Ham. But, if he continues to perform like this at Oxford, it seems only a matter of time before he follows in the footsteps of former academy teammate Grady Diangana and establishes himself in Manuel Pellegrini’s plans.
Browne scored six goals in 12 Premier League 2 appearances last season.
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