By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
Divine Mukasa has been promoted to the England Under-21 squad – and I don’t think there’s any chance this happens without his decision to join West Ham.
The Manchester City loanee only made his England Under-20 debut in Friday’s 3-1 victory over Italy, but has now been called into Lee Carsley’s U21 group following the withdrawals of Jamie Gittens, Kellen Fisher and Ben Chrisene.
According to the official West Ham website, Mukasa will now have the opportunity to make his U21 debut against either Slovakia or the Republic of Ireland.
For me, this is a huge endorsement of his decision to leave Manchester City temporarily and play Championship football.
| Divine Mukasa | Stat |
|---|---|
| Goals vs Wolves | 2 |
| Passes vs Wrexham | 51/58 |
| Progressive vs Wrexham | 6/8 |
| Recoveries vs Wrexham | 10 |
| Def. duels vs Millwall | 7/10 |
| Off. duels vs Millwall | 7/12 |
West Ham loan is working perfectly
There is simply no way Mukasa would be receiving this promotion had he remained on the fringes at Manchester City rather than playing and starring for West Ham.
All you can really ask from a loan is that it benefits everyone involved.
West Ham get an outstanding young midfielder who has already established himself in Nuno Espírito Santo’s team. Manchester City get one of their brightest prospects playing regular senior football, while Mukasa himself gets the platform to develop and showcase his talent.
Mukasa has been called up to the England U21 squad
His rapid England promotion suggests it’s working.
We’ve already seen what regular football is doing for him. Mukasa scored twice in the 4-2 victory over Wolves and has since developed an increasingly impressive partnership with Arne Engels.
Mukasa has represented England throughout the age groups, but this is another significant step up.
No concerns over Mukasa workload
I’m not particularly concerned about the additional workload either.
Had Mukasa not been promoted, he’d presumably have remained with the U20s during the international break anyway. He’s young and West Ham suddenly have plenty of midfield options should Nuno need to manage his minutes.
As Claret & Hugh exclusively revealed earlier today, Tomáš Souček is also set to make his return in a behind-closed-doors friendly this week after a source close to the midfielder told us he is “raring to go”.
Therefore, even if Mukasa comes back from international duty slightly knackered, it shouldn’t present West Ham with a major problem.
More importantly, he’s earned this opportunity.
He’s got his own future and self respect to consider, so I can’t see him wanting to go back to Man City 😊⚒️⚒️
It is normal for premier league clubs to put promising youngsters out on loan with championship teams. It should not be forgotten that he is not our player and if things went really well with him he would not become so.
We get the use of a promising youngster for a year and only if things didn’t go so well do we get a chance to maybe sign him.
There are a few things happening on the blue side of Manchester as well John that could make a permanent signing more realistic come the end of the season…