It is make or break time for Connor Coventry this coming season.
The 22-year-old Hammer needs to break through to the first team or he is likely to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Holland out of the door.
The Republic of Ireland International joined the Hammers when he was ten years of age spending twelve years in the Academy.
Last season he was loaned to MK Dons where he was loved by their fans following previous loans to Lincoln City and Peterborough.
It is perhaps promising that he was one of just two Academy players pictured at Rush Green last Sunday when non-international first-team players reported back for duty.
He was pictured in the car park in the club’s official video walking towards to training building and has been featured since in St Andrews, Scotland coverage at the summer training camp.
With Mark Noble retired and Alex Kral poised to return to his parent club, the squad is bare when he comes to defensive midfielders.
Perhaps David Moyes may consider him as cover this season instead of loaning him out again.
Another loan would almost definitely signal the beginning of the end for Coventry which would be a shame.
He is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Declan Rice and Ben Johnson in becoming a regular first-team squad player with Europe again on the horizon.
Not sure I agree it would be a shame if he was loaned out again tbh. If Moyes’ genuinely doesn’t feel he is going to be good enough for PL football then surely it is best for both parties to cut the ties. The club can then fast track another likely prospect and the player can go on and hopefully build a decent career at whatever level he ends up at.
It’s a constant conveyor belt of players and if they haven’t broke into the first time by a certain age then they are probably never going to play at that level. It’s sad but that’s the way it is. The player Ashby pictured above next to Fornals I think is more likely to make it. Coventry as well as the other Irish lad who went to the Netherlands were always going to find it more difficult to breakthrough ironically because they play in Declan Rices position. Talking of Irish players we have just signed a young 17 year old lad Patrick Kelly from Colerain that looks very promising.
Agreed. The stronger West Ham become as a challenging team and the more revenue available for transfers, the less likely the youngsters are in breaking through into the first team on a regular basis. Rice and Johnson were the last two. Chelsea’s transfer ban was a godsend for the likes of Hudson-Odoi, Christensen, Mount, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah and James.