West Ham United boss David Moyes has hinted that Ademipo Odubeko could be in line for first-team action soon.
The Hammers won again on Wednesday night, beating Aston Villa 3-1 at Villa Park to win a fifth game in the last six.
Jesse Lingard bagged a brace on his first start for the club, whilst Tomas Soucek scored yet again as his superb form continued.
West Ham had no trouble scoring last night, despite the fact that Moyes wasn’t able to bring in a new striker in January.
Sebastien Haller was sold to Ajax but not replaced, leaving some West Ham fans angry as no cover was brought in for Michail Antonio.
One report from 90Min suggested that Moyes would promote teenage striker Odubeko to the first team to replace Haller, rather than make a new signing.
Odubeko, 18, joined from Manchester United in 2019, and his combined record at Under-18 and Under-23 levels is 14 goals and three assists in just 10 games.
Moyes has now told Claret and Hugh that it’s been tough for Odubeko because of injury and the global pandemic, but he has been impressed with him training.
Moyes is ‘pleased’ with Odubeko’s progression and displays on a daily basis, and is closer to first-team football than ever before.
“He’s been training with the first team but his biggest problem is he just got back from injury and he had to isolate,” said Moyes. “My biggest problem is I haven’t seen much of him over the last three months because he had a really bad hamstring injury but he’s back training and I’ve been quite impressed by him daily. He’s getting closer but I just need to see a bit more of him.”
“He scored a couple of goals (against Southampton Under-23s). I watched the game and I’ve been pleased with him. If the opportunities came along where I felt there was a chance to introduce him in some way, I wouldn’t be against doing so,” he added.
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