Oxford departs for next to nothing
And although the transfer fee remains undisclosed ClaretandHugh understands that it amounted to as little as €2.3 million which, to make the deal happen, was swallowed in fees to the agents and playerwho was forced totake a wage cut with his new club.
However, it means the Irons will save £20k a week – or nearly £2 million over what would have been the final two years of his deal – off the wage bill over the next two years.
Oxford had walked away from a move to the German outfit at the end of his loan spell last season because he was unready to sign without a relegation clause being inserted into the deal.
It’s not clear whether he got what he wanted second time around but it means that the 20 year old has finally brought his eight year association with the Hammers to an end.
He would, however, appear to have a stiff task ahead of him nailing down a permanent place in the Augsburg side given that he he made just eight appearances for the Bundesliga outfit in the second half of the season.
The move brings the 20-year-old’s eight-year stay in east London to an end by returning to the club where he spent the second half of last season on loan, making eight appearances.
He had made history at the Hammers when in 2015 he became West Ham’s youngest-ever first-team player when Slaven Bilic handed him a debut in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round first leg win over Lusitanos of Andorra in July 2015, aged 16 years and 198 days.
ClaretandHugh: The Hammers have been doing everything they can to move Oxford on for well over 18 months and the heady talk of interest from Manchester United, City and Arsenal which surrounded him for a while shows how wrong the media often gets it. In the end it appears he was left with just the one option and it will be a long way back from last season’s loan spell, with the club who finished 15th in the Bundesliga, to the heights for the boy who once appeared to have the world at his feet. Quite where it all started to go wrong for him at West Ham is hard to pinpoint but his star clearly started to dim at the same time as Declan Rice’s began to shine. After eight years as a Hammer with things looking so bright for him at one stage, it’s sad to see him disappear to a club which appears to have few prospects of achieving a great deal and the fee of £2.3 million s a pitiful return on a player who was at one stage being discussed in £20-£30m terms. However, his time with us is over and we at CandH wish him all the best for the future.