Does Toni Martinez deserve a chance with West Ham United?
It was a horrendous weekend for one West Ham United striker and a brilliant one for another. Andy Carroll did little to appease West Ham fans’ frustration with him by picking up a first-half red card in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Burnley in the Premier League.
Even manager Slaven Bilic admitted that he was slightly annoyed with the 28-year-old, who managed two yellow cards in the space of two minutes.
Carroll was arguably fortunate to even be playing, based on his form, but you wonder if Bilic could promote Toni Martinez after the Spanish striker offered yet another polite nudge to the Croat over a first-team spot.
Martinez scored a hat-trick for the Irons’ Under-23 team on Sunday to make it 21 goals in 22 games for the development side and it’s growing increasingly harder for the former Besiktas coach to ignore what the 20-year-old is doing.
Martinez, yet to make a Premier League appearance, at the very least deserves a chance to showcase his skills in a senior game and the longer his goal-laden form goes unrewarded, the higher the risk that he will consider leaving East London in January.
He will have 18 months to go on his contract when the transfer window re-opens and you wonder whether his red-hot form will attract suitors.
Bilic needs to give him a reason to ignore outside interest if it’s there and the only way to do that is let him know it’s possible that a promotion to the senior side is possible.
He played him in the 3-2 League Cup win over Swindon Town in August and although Martinez failed to score, his ongoing work with the Under-23s is evidence that he deserves another shot.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
