What a few days it has been for West Ham, who sold one of their best talents in Grady Diangana on Friday before shipping five to Championship side Bournemouth yesterday.
The Diangana transfer has caused a lot of stir, with a number of senior players, including the captain, Mark Noble, expressing his anger at the club allowing him to leave for West Brom [BBC Sport].
Well, a seemingly forgotten man, Oxford, who would have risen through the ranks in East London with Diangana, also had his say on Instagram.
He messaged Diangana on his Instagram story by simply saying: “What a player,” added with a couple of fire emojis. “All the best.”
Oxford is another highly-rated player from West Ham’s academy who will also feel he was hard done by – he joined German side Augsburg on a permanent basis last summer.
The big issue with the Diangana stuff is that he did the business at West Brom by helping them earn promotion.
But then, he isn’t given a chance to showcase to the Hammers faithful that he can rise through their ranks like Harry Kane has been doing at Tottenham and Jack Grealish has been doing at Villa.
But the already-under-pressure West Ham board have made a decision which has no doubt made them more unpopular than they already are with their own supporters.
Whilst someone like Brighton keep hold of Ben White, who helped Leeds earn promotion last term, they are letting their talents go and it’s something that will not wash easily with the fans.
This saga will now drag into the new season, which helps no-one, but clearly the West Ham board are to blame for shooting themselves in the foot.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
