Remember Jeremy Ngakia? Back in 2020, the 21-year-old broke into the first-team at West Ham, and became a favourite under David Moyes.
The London-born defender was entrusted to start five Premier League games in the 2019/20 campaign, and was offered a new contract by West Ham as a result.
However, Ngakia rejected the offer, as he felt he wasn’t guaranteed to get regular playing time at the London Stadium.
According to Football London, this decision left Moyes seething with anger.
Now, it’s safe to say Ngakia’s decision backfired.
What’s the story?
Well, the right-back chose to join Watford, but only started 18 of their 46 Championship games last season.
So far this term, Ngakia has again been stuck on the bench, and the arrival of Roy Hodgson hasn’t changed a thing – if anything, his situation has now worsened.
The youngster has only played 12 minutes of football in Hodgson’s five Premier League games so far, all of which coincidentally came against West Ham.
In total, Ngakia has made just five Premier League starts this season.
Jeremy Ngakia should’ve stayed at West Ham
In our view, Ngakia was wrong to leave West Ham, when it was so obviously apparent that Moyes had a lot of faith in him.
When the West Ham Academy graduate departed, the 58-year-old said: “I feel he is making a mistake choosing not to stay with us. We’ve trusted him in big games and everyone likes him at the club.”
Ngakia had a solid platform to develop at the London Stadium, but he took a massive gamble in throwing that away to drop down into the Championship.
You have to admire his bravery and desire to step out of a comfort zone, although there’s no denying that the move has backfired.
Hopefully, Ngakia can resurrect his career at Vicarage Road.
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