West Ham United striker Jordan Hugill looks to be fighting a losing battle.
West Ham United’s pre-season preparations continued on Saturday as they drew 2-2 away at Preston North End – but it may be curtains for Jordan Hugill.
The Hammers saw Marko Arnautovic score twice at Deepdale but were pegged back twice by the Lilywhites as Tom Clarke and Billy Bodin scored equalisers for Alex Neil’s side.
Fans were given a glimpse of new signings Ryan Fredericks, Issa Diop, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko, but there was no sign of striker Hugill anywhere.
If there was to be any game that Hugill played in, it would surely have been a return to Deepdale, having left Preston for West Ham on the final day of the January transfer window.
Yet, despite playing 45 minutes against Wycombe Wanderers last weekend, Hugill wasn’t even in the West Ham squad as Toni Martinez was handed a place on the bench instead.
West Ham fans now feel that Hugill’s Hammers career is over already, which is no great surprise given that Football.London report that Manuel Pellegrini won’t have Hugill in his plans at all.
The 26-year-old was signed by David Moyes but was then given just 22 minutes of Premier League action, and with only 45 minutes played across three pre-season games and named in the squad just once, his days appear to be numbered.
Championship clubs will be queuing up for Hugill, and having been left out against Preston – with no injury declared or even rumoured – it appears that his West Ham career will come to an end before it even really started.
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