Winston Reid faced his biggest test to date as he played a full ninety of competitive football for the West Ham Under 23 side on Wednesday night as they beat Brighton and Hove Albion U23’s three goals to one.
The 31-year-old who missed all of last season with a knee injury played 60 minutes last month for the development squad to come through unscathed. On that occasion, Reid had been on the pitch for an hour and four minutes before being replaced by 15-year-old Jermaine Baptiste. But medical staff are not taking any chances and he waited almost a month for his second game for the youngsters.
After a 20 month absence on the sidelines, Reid is eager to make up for lost time as an option for Pellegrini in the first-team squad.
Reid has a contract with West Ham until the end of June 2023 but is likely to have an uphill struggle in the centre back pecking order with Issa Diop, Fabian Balbuena and Angelo Ogbonna all established in the first-team squad.
This to me is good news – I really like WInston. With Diop suspended for Chelsea perhaps Winston could be on the bench
Reid has looked calm and assured.
Think we need that. I feel he is now ready , a better bet than Balbuena.