David Moyes will take a good look at Reece Burke, probably starting in tomorrow’s FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury before deciding on the defenders future.
There is keen interest from at least four clubs to take the 21 year old ho has been recalled from Championship outfit Bolton Wanderers who want the central defender back if West Ham agree.
But they will be challenged by Nottingham Forest, Derby County , Barnsley and Sunderland who have also been monitoring the 21 year old closely.
The emergence of Declan Rice and return of Reece Oxford will pile the pressure on Burke to make an impression but like another Bolton loanee Josh Cullen, the manager will be keen to see what they have to offer before making any decision on their futures.
Since breaking onto the scene under Sam Allardyce Burke has been on loan at Bradford before moving to Wigan – here he made 10 appearances and latterly Bolton
If he plays in tomorrow’s cup tie, he can only stay with us, or go back to Bolton. All other options would be ruled out.
As long as it’s to go back out on loan. I can completely understand our youngsters getting frustrated at not having their chance to break into the first team, however if they decide that they are better off elsewhere to achieve their goal of first team football then there should be an option for us to have first dibs should their new clubs ever decide to sell them on.
I for one am pleased Moyes is playing the kids in the cup – It’s a win/win surely. He is giving some rest time to those who have performed of late, whilst taking a proper look at the youngsters who Max and others claim are good enough to play at a higher level. Well now we will start to find out.
If we win, then there is hope they can step up, and if we lose, we know we need to invest even more than we thought in buying better players, and at the same time we aren’t risking injury to those we need to pull us clear of the bottom of the league. And if truth be told, we ain’t winning the cup any time soon! I just hope we avoid another Forest debacle when BFS played a youth team and we were destroyed.
I have watched a lot of Development squad games this year and very few of the lads are ready to step up . Most of our u23s are in fact well under 20. Some are only 17/18. Very promising, just not ready yet. Most of the fans calling for their first team inclusion can’t have seen them play very much. Half of them are still kids and haven’t developed physically yet. Time will tell. COYI X