Ben Johnson heads off for international duty with England’s under 21 and has a plan.
After making half a centre of appearances in the first team, the 22 year old has shown himself to be a highly flexible player who can perform on either side.
And as the second academy product to force his way into the successful Hammers side following Declan Rice, he has shown the club’s youth ;policy is alive and well.
But he believes he has more to offer than we have seen so far and that there is an area on which he can improve his game anmd his eye is on the goal as a result!
And he will be aiming to make a big impression if he gains his his first cap as Lee Carsley’s team play UEFA U21 European Championship qualifiers against Andorra in Bournemouth on Friday, and away at Albania on Tuesday.
It’s a big moment in his young career.
He explained: “I feel I can get more assists, I feel I can create better chances. Maybe getting more goal-scoring opportunities and areas to score.
“I don’t think any footballer is the finished article but I would definitely say those things could put me ahead of some players.
“There are full backs who are getting so many goals and assists which really catches the eye. It’s something that I would like to emulate as well. Unfortunately, it’s not happened much at club level but I definitely have the capabilities to score and create goals.”
The England Under-21 head coach Carsley suggested that Johnson could be used in a back three against Andorra or away to Albania on Tuesday.
And Ben said: “I’ve played right centre-half a few times at club level and I’ve quite enjoyed it. Being here, we’re probably going to have a lot of the ball because there’s top players here. That makes the system work well.
As you see, the first team go from four at the back to five at the back and it works extremely well. You see some teams that have expansive centre-halves who can go on overlaps and sort of play as a full-back.”
Ben has got better and better the more games he plays. A real talent and an international young player, but it has been difficult to play regularly till Vlad injured. I regularly bang on about our U23’s getting first team sub time – how else will they be ready? What are your thoughts on this Hughie?