Hammers academy man, Mark Noble, could be saying his goodbyes as he climbs out of the January transfer window and scarpers back to the Premier League to join Fulham.
When I told a friend of mine, a Watford fan, I was writing this article he answered blankly with “Who’s Mark Noble?” It’s true that Noble is not the most memorable of players, never seeming to fulfil his early potential. In fact I’d say his three most memorable moments of this season have all been penalties.
Noble has always seemed to me, the epitome of the old school central midfielder, a local boy who’s dependable, consistent, with a cool head on his shoulders, doing what’s expected of him and not much more. But is his simple old fashioned style of play enough to shine at this level?
As a Championship player he is decent enough but with the quality of players West Ham has had through its doors it’s been surprising to me that Noble has managed to keep his spot in the middle of the park for so long.
That being said, Fulham are not the first Premiership team to show an interest in Noble. A £5m deal with Sunderland for the midfielder fell through when Steve Bruce was sacked. I have to say, I don’t remember sounding a great sigh of relief back then and I won’t now if we manage to keep hold of him.
Maybe these Premiership sides see something in Noble that we don’t. I remember feeling the same after offloading Lampard to Chelsea following a mediocre season. The general feeling back then was that Lampard was a passenger and yet somehow Chelsea brought something out of him that we couldn’t. Oh well… Stuff him, he’s fat.
Sam Allardyce seems keen to keep hold of the 24 year old. He’s been raised up through the academy, an Eastend boy, and a Hammers fan. He’s one of us! But I do feel that should he leave, he’ll be missed more in the dressing room than he would on the pitch.
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I would be sad to see him leave as I have a feeling his best years are yet to come! Reliable, dependable and loyal…I say make him captain and watch him shine!
You’d have Noble take the captaincy over Nolan? You’re right that he’s reliable and loyal but do you think that he has the character to make a good captain in the Premiership for example?
Spot on mate , not a bad player but not someone that we will miss and could be replaced by loads of championship midfielders that are just as good and if you can’t take a penalty you shouldn’t be a pro .. end of !!!