West Ham will be praying that Winston Reid’s outstanding form for Brentford continues as they look to his future which will see him as a Hammer for another two years old.
The folly of offering six year contracts to any player has been clearly highlighted by Winston’s situation following a devastating injury at Swansea.
He now finds himself at the Bees with over 90 per cent of his salary being paid by the Hammers who will be looking for him to move on again next season where a larger proportion of his salary may be paid by the loan club.
Should he continue to play as he has been since his move to the Brentford Community Stadium, where so far he has been involved in six games with just five goals conceded, there is every likelihood other teams will be interested in the 32 year for loan spells over the last two years of his contract.
There is now no way back into the Hammers first team for the central defender who is on around £70k a week or approximately £6.5 million for the last 24 months of his deal
It is certainly not a position we should ever look to get into again, but I don’t think as a supporter I should look at Winston as a millstone around the club’s neck. The six-year contract probably says more about his importance to this club. It wasn’t his fault that he got injured at that time and he had been a loyal servant as well as being the rock on which our defence was built.
I hope that Winston does well at the Bee’s and puts himself in the shop window as he has already played across the whole of their back-line whilst putting in great performances.