Angelo Ogbonna has been in the sort of form lately which makes talk of a transfer seem ridiculous.
The Italian international has been in great form since Manuel Pellegrini decided to give Issa Diop a rest following a great spell of games during his first year at the club.
And that Ogbonna is now being seen as some as a more likely stayer at the club than perjhaps even long serving Winston Reid is a tribute to the central defender.
The 30 year old has now made 27 appearances for the first team this campaign and with three goals to his name looks too valuable a player to move on.
He was again in fine form against Manchester unioted at the weekend in a clash which really should have given the Irons a double over the Reds.
Instead, like the rest of the team he was left almost gasping in disbelief at a result which on the balance of play was never on the cards and achieved via – let’s be honest – two very dodgy penalties.
And afterwards he commented to www.whufc.com: “Oh man! I don’t know how we didn’t get the three points, but sometimes when you can’t win you have to get the draw.
“We showed that we were a totally different West Ham. We kept the ball from the beginning. I think we were like the home side and they were like the away team. We deserved a lot more than we got.
“I am very proud of the players. Michail Antonio who came on late and had a lot of chances. He hit the bar and forced a great save [from De Gea]. I can’t say anything against the team, we really deserved much more.
“We looked good right from the start. I think we were really brave. Our shape was totally different, we covered the pitch really well and found a way to attack, to counter-attack and to defend. We made the right decisions with or without the ball.”
“Their [first] penalty, I don’t know,” Ogbonna admitted. “I don’t want to criticise the ref but… I think the challenge [by Robert Snodgrass on Juan Mata] was 50/50, but the referee has to understand the situation.
“Another penalty came for them, but maybe because we were so excited at the other end. You have to read the game so we were so excited and on the front foot and we were so confident, we lost a little bit of balance and they counter-attacked.”
