The Hammers academy star was given his debut by Slaven Bilic, now the Baggies boss, and there were rumours of a reunion at The Hawthorns.
A player that West Bromwich Albion were reportedly keeping tabs on this summer has now committed his future to a new club as Reece Oxford swapped West Ham United for FC Augsburg on Friday, as confirmed by the Premier League club’s official website.
The Hammers academy graduate became the club’s youngest-ever first-team player when Slaven Bilic – now Baggies boss – handed him a debut in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round first leg win over Lusitanos of Andorra in July 2015, aged 16 years and 198 days.
The following month, Oxford became the second-youngest starter in Premier League history when he started in West Ham’s 2-0 Premier League win at Arsenal, famously marking Mesut Ozil out of the game.
Since then, however, the 20-year-old has found himself down the pecking order at the East London club, going out on loan over the past couple of seasons for the likes of Reading, Borussia Monchengladbach and Augsburg.
The Daily Star reported in mid-June that Oxford was “poised” to make a £4million move to The Hawthorns to reunite with Bilic, but in the end, the versatile defensive player has opted to join the team where he spent the second half of last season on loan, signing for an undisclosed fee and penning a four-year deal.
It is a shame that Oxford opted not to link up with Bilic at West Brom given how they are building strongly in their quest for promotion but, given he has already spent time on loan at Augsburg, and also given the success that an increasing amount of English youngsters are enjoying in the Bundesliga, it’s a fair enough choice really.
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