Sam Byram rejected a new contract at Leeds United and moved to West Ham in January 2016 – but has started just 15 Premier League games since.
The common consensus is that Pablo Zabaleta is well past his best. The 32-year-old might be a cult hero at Manchester City and a two-time Premier League winner to boot but, since moving to West Ham in the summer, it appears that age has caught up with him.
Zabaleta, like the majority of West Ham’s big-name summer signings, has failed to find his best form in claret and blue and reached a nadir when giving away a clumsy penalty during Friday’s 3-0 home defeat to Brighton.
It says a lot about manager Sam Byram’s standing under Hammers boss Slaven Bilic, then, that he continues to be left out for a player eight years his senior who is bang out of form. The 24-year-old has struggled with injuries since moving to West Ham in January 2016 but, even when fit, Bilic has preferred Michail Antonio and even Cheikhou Kouyate at right-back.
So far this season, Byram hasn’t played a minute of Premier League football. The Thurrock-born talent, then, is learning the hard way that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere.
The Yorkshire Evening Post reported in December 2015, just a month before Byram left for West Ham, that the Leeds United academy graduate had rejected the offer of a new contract at Elland Road – though he can hardly be blamed as owner Massimo Cellino had previously asked him to accept a wage cut.
However, any good feeling Leeds fans felt towards one of their own disappeared somewhat when, according to The Guardian, Byram declared himself unavailable to play in what would have been his final appearance for Leeds, a 2-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday in January 2016.
Byram made a rare start in West Ham’s dramatic EFL Cup comeback win against Spurs on Wednesday night but, if he returns to the bench for the weekend clash with Crystal Palace, the suggestion that the right-back might have been better off signing that new contract at Leeds will only be strengthened
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