Winston Reid will resume full training this week according to a club insider.
The centre back has been missing for many of the pre-season friendlies managing just one appearance as he makes a return after a long recovery.
The 31-year-old, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, came off the bench for the second half of the Hammers’ 3-2 pre-season friendly win over SCR Altach in Austria. He expressed his delight by posting a photo on Instagram, saying: “495 days later … Back at it again.”
Claret and Hugh understand the centre back has been receiving specialist training during the pre-season but is due to join normal first-team training at Rush Green starting this week.
Reid who has a contract with West Ham until 2023 is likely to have competition in the form of 18-year-old Goncalo Cardoso who is expected to sign this week. His addition to the squad could see either Winston Reid or Angelo Ogbonna depart in the winter or next summer depending on how the youngster gets on.
Do clubs have insurance to protect them from a player retiring through injury? I was just thinking, if a player gets to a point where his body continually breaks down and he comes to the realisation he has to retire. Presumably retiring would be giving up the wages for the remainder of the contract, in Reid’s case that’s around 10-12m so I would imagine a player would rather sit on the contract until it expires before retiring.
Do you know anything about how it works, is there insurance to cover a player if they retire so they don’t have to sit on the contract? Hopefully Reid will make a full recovery but I wonder whether he’ll find his body breaking down any time he tries playing at a competitive level. I don’t think he’ll ever get back to the player he was unfortunately, back injuries just affect too many areas of the body.
Mostly not
I cannot remember if we let adrian go or he wanted to go either way he is imo a lot better goalkeeper than roberto.
I just don’t have a lot of confidence when roberto is in between the sticks.It is like the same felling when we had joe hart.
Pretty sure Pelligrini wouldn’t have signed him if he didn’t have potential . Give him time and he may prove to be very valuable . Obviously a very nervous start but given his job as goalkeeper it is to be expected . Joe Hart was a different kettle of fish altogether . He was on a forever downhill slope . Time will tell . Stay optimistic just as the team must be .
COYHAMMERS
West Ham United are an unknown quantity going into this season . Our Fans and rest of Premiership don’t really know what to expect . Hopefully we shall surprise both Fans and the opposition .
COYHAMMERS
Winston was a major loss to our ambitions last season and we missed him terribly . So much reshuffling with the consequence of players having to play out of position was the main reason for our ping pong performances ., that plus a eternal injury list destroyed our potential . This season , on the other hand could be a very good one as far as west ham are concerned . Would be great to see Winston fully fit again . As to whether he will return to his very best is debatable .