Ian Wright told BBC One’s Match of the Day that he ‘cannot understand’ why Josh Cullen wasn’t in the matchday squad for West Ham’s clash against Newcastle on Saturday.
The 24-year-old had a strong pre-season for the Hammers, but David Moyes opted to leave him out of the 18 for the defeat to Newcastle.
Prior to the game at the London Stadium, there has been a lot of anger and frustration aimed at the Hammers board because of their decision to sell Grady Diangana.
Whilst one academy product was allowed to leave for West Brom, another in Cullen wasn’t even on the bench and Wright was baffled by that call.
“There’s a lot of negativity around them, at the moment,” Wright told Match of the Day. “I feel for the fans, they must be frustrated.
“I cannot understand why someone like Josh Cullen cannot even get in the squad. He had a great pre-season.
“And why not play Haller upfront with Antonio and get something going. I hope they can get out of it because it seems a lot of negativity around them.”
West Ham’s record transfers
- Sebastien Haller
£45 million
- Felipe Anderson
£41.5 million
- Marko Arnautovic
£25 million
- Pablo Fornals
£24 million
- Issa Diop
£22 million
Cullen is at the stage of his career where it’s now or never at West Ham because he has been knocking on that door for some while now.
He hasn’t been provided with the opportunity that he wants, but with the current situation West Ham are in and the form he’s been in, this was the stage to finally hand him that dream gig.
West Ham weren’t blowing teams away last season, and added with Cullen’s form during pre-season, it perhaps deserved him earning a spot in the 18, but clearly, Moyes thinks otherwise and their defeat to Newcastle will only result in those calls for him to be picked growing louder.
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