Former Hammers stalwart and loyalist Josh Cullen is carving out a major career for himself at Anderlecht where he has been an ever-present in the Belgian club’s season.
Vincent Kompany’s outfit sits in fourth place in the Belgian league and Cullen is playing a major part in their campaign with 12 appearances under his belt.
After 15 years at the Hammers and various loan excursions, he was finally allowed to leave by David Moyes at a fee reported to be around £900,000.
Many believed it was the wrong call as he looked a natural player for a new deal given the club’s lack of resources at the time – and even now – in central midfield.
He had looked to many to be the natural successor to Mark Noble and would have been an ideal squad member now with cover still required for Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek.
However, he admitted to the Mail that when the decision to move across the channel appeared he had little trouble making his mind up.
He said: “‘It was a tough decision but also I knew it was time for me to get out and really kick on with my career and come to somewhere I felt I was going to play regularly which is the most important thing for a player.
‘Going hand in hand with that, to have such a fantastic opportunity and one as exciting as this one – to come to a club as big as Anderlecht with huge history and massive ambition going forward, it all fell into place perfectly.
‘It was a decision that was not a sad one. I was excited and looking forward to the challenge.’
There’s no question it seems that the hammers may well have missed a trick in not holding on to a very good player!
Moyes isn’t the type to make false promises. He would have told josh Cullen he could stay but he might not make the starting eleven, would be a squad player and might be sitting in the bench most of the time. Let’s face it he wasn’t going to displace rice and Souchek was he. So in actual fact it was josh cullens decision to leave West Ham and for the sake of his career he probably made the right choice to leave.
Don’t you mean Moyes let him go?
You’ve got this one wrong. Cullen played for West Ham this season, against Charlton, and took part in pre-season. Moyes sold him. Such a shame. Very much the sort of player who should have been a regular on the bench and good cover for Noble, Rice and Soucek. He only left on 5th October 2020
Sorry, yes you’re right my mistake
Colin, I think you’ve summed up why Cullen left, he didn’t want to be ‘a regular on the bench’.
I saw him play a lot of games, particularly when he was a regular at Charlton, he always gave 100% for the cause and liked to get on the ball and pass it. He was excellent for Charlton but, in my opinion was just short of Premier League class.
All clubs have to make decisions on young players and 9 times out of 10 they get it right. Look at Diangana, what a load of nonsense was talked about him being the future at West Ham blah blah blah. Him and Josh are probably very good Championship players but not Premier League. I hope they both prove me wrong in their careers.