West Ham have the perfect midfield cover for either Declan Rice or Tomas Soucek sitting on the club’s doorstep.
Terry Westley – former academy director – is delighted to see that Conor Coventry has been upgraded to the full Republic of Ireland side by manager Stephen Kenny from the under 21s squad.
The 20-year-old Academy graduate could now be in line to make his senior Republic of Ireland debut during an upcoming triple-header of matches.
Stephen Kenny’s side first travel to Serbia’s Red Star Stadium in Belgrade for their opening 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match on Wednesday, before hosting Luxembourg in a second UEFA Group A qualifier at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin, next Saturday.
Coventry has been one of the club’s rising midfield stars for a couple of years but CandH exclusive blogger Westley said: ” For me the boy is ready for the Hammers first team when the need arises.
Like Declan before him he has all the attributes. There’s no need for the club to go out and spend millions.
“Stephen Kenny managed Conor in the Irish under 21s and knows all about him – that he’s upgraded him tells me everything – Conor is ready.
He has a bit of everything you need in a midfielder. He can defend, attack, pass, tackle, is cool on the ball and reliable. I believe he is a first team player.
He will need games in order to bed himself down but once he gets that opportunity he will be on his way.
West Ham are fortunate to have players like him at a time such as this when money is so tight because of covid – Conor can save them millions.”
Really hope he gets a chance and takes it .
Surely he is a better option now than Noble .
Should have kept Josh Cullen he was ready to go in front of Noble but they gave him away for peanuts, And they will do the same with Connor shame really…
How do you know?
I like Cullen too. Water under the bridge.
Got to be a better move than bringing on Noble, someone tell Moyes and Co
I really like the look of Connor. He seems to have good technique and is calm went put under pressure. I hope he is given a chance. But I fear we will go with Noble, when ever we try and hold on. Funny that we rarely do. Noble’s time has been and gone. He should be standing aside and the young talent like Connor should be given their chance.
Young athletic players – Coventry, Alves, Johnson – all capable, needing experience, bring them on. There is every good reason to give them game time, including tactical astuteness, in sub roles for the rest of the season. Also – Nobes can mentor them, and stop being embarrassed in his twilight.
I doubt that, whilst we’re challenging for a European place, there will be any time in the remaining games to bring on any youngsters. Very few teams have little to play for and I imagine there being a lot of close games between now and the end of the season. Pre-season will be the time the youngsters will have the chance to stake their claim. I’m keen to see if Coventry gets game time for RoI in the next couple of weeks. It’s hard to judge a player in the U23’s but seeing him against European-pedigree players may show us a glimpse of how good he is.
I thought that Connor was the reason that we let go of Josh Cullen? Personally from what I have seen….he looks ready to me, in the same way, Rice looked 1st team ready when he was attempting to break into the first team.
I feel that there may be a lingering piece of loyalty to Nobes, but come pre-season, I can see Connor and a few others becoming 1st team squad members as going out on loan is not necessary for his further development.