You have to feel a little sorry for one West Ham youngster, who must have approached ‘deadline day’ much like a tourist sitting alone on a row of three seats waiting for the aircraft door to close, feeling certain he’d get lucky and would surely be the only occupant of a whole row.
At the last minute, literally on deadline day (just as the aircraft doors were closing) West Ham signed not one, but two defenders and Ollie Scarles’ dreams of being the only left back in town went up in smoke.
How high his hopes must have been when El Hadji Malick Diouf left in August, headed for Brentford: The last minute arrival of Adama Boiro, a Champions League-experienced left back must have felt like a major let down.
Ironically it has been the centre back Morato who’s been the major surprise of the season, entrenching himself in Scarles’ starting spot and condemning the youngster to just a few minutes here and there.
Ollie Scarles started the season at left back for West Ham but since Morato’s arrival he’s been relegated to the bench
And from Manor Solomon’s words today, Morato and he are developing just nicely in their understanding thank you. seemingly leaving no room for Ollie scares to elbow his way back into first team selection barring injury or illness. According to Solomon:
“I think it has taken me and Morato a bit of time to adapt to playing with each other, but that relationship is definitely building, as is my link-up with the other attackers here. You can feel things growing all the time, and we’re all just excited to keep playing games and to try and get more wins for the team” (whufc.com)
Scarles will more than likely be on the bench – again – tomorrow and now must surely start to think about a loan in January, since at his age he needs to be kicking on with his own career development and playing regular football.
Great for West Ham but sad for Ollie that Morato just looks perfectly at home in ‘his’ starting spot at left back by the look of it, and is going to take some dislodging.