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Pellegrini must not waste time contemplating Oxford’s future

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OPINION

David Moyes made only a few epic blunders during his short spell at West Ham but he really messed up when it came to dealing with Reece Oxford.

The Hammers enforcer’s future is still no clearer with his fate now set to be decided by Manuel Pellegrini, and the knowledgeable veteran needs to avoid making a similar mistake to Moyes regarding the 19-year-old.

Claret & Hugh,a trusted source of Hammers information, stated that it was understood that Pellegrini would get rid of no player at the club until he has a chance to observe them in pre-season.

The news outlet went on to state that the Premier League winning boss would not entertain any bid for Oxford, until he had witnessed him first hand, even though Borussia Monchengladbach were keen on signing him.

This is a fantastic and understandable attitude to have but Pellegrini must be wary about dragging his feet when making a decision about Oxford.

Moyes, along with the club’s board, royally messed up the whole scenario regarding the centre-back’s future in January and the errors they made will still potentially cost the Hammers this summer.

Firstly the Hammers slapped a staggering £18million price tag, as stated by Football.London in January, on the defender’s head a fee that was going to be a struggled to get a club to pay, even one as keen as Borussia Monchengladbach.

Yet Moyes then threw any chance of getting that sort of money away by playing Oxford when he returned from his loan spell at Monchengladbach briefly, at the start of the year.

The teen made three brief and terrible appearances for the Hammers, despite never really seemingly like a player that Moyes would consider featuring regularly as he preferred experienced at that time, which ruled out any team other than Monchengladbach being able to sign him at the time.

This was due to the fact a player can’t be registered for three different clubs in the same season, hence why he was then quickly loaned back to the German giants for the second half of the campaign so he didn’t rot on the sidelines.

Also Moyes’ reckless use of the defender didn’t help the club justify demanding such a huge fee for his services anyway, so a loan back to Monchengladbach was the only realistic option.

Oxford did manage to feature seven times in total for Monchengladbach during his two separate loan spells in the latest campaign, but that doesn’t mean they will be bullied into paying crazy money.

While Pellegrini won’t be able to make the three club blunder in the summer, as that’s impossible, he can’t drag his feet as the defender’s value is still volatile.

If the Hammers try to play hardball once again or drag out negotiations due to Pellegrini not deciding quickly, a club such as Monchengladbach will turn their attentions elsewhere.

Therefore in order for the current Hammers manager to avoid repeating an epic Moyes mistake, he must ensure he decides on Oxford’s future as quickly as possible so the club actually get the best deal possible if the defender is to leave the London Stadium.

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