OPINION
West Ham United’s fortunes have improved on the pitch in recent weeks, but their injury luck in central midfield has only worsened.
Firstly, summer signing Jack Wilshere suffered an ankle injury that has kept him out for the last few games, and now his fellow midfielder Carlos Sanchez is facing months on the sidelines.
The Colombia international came off with an injury in the 8-0 thumping of Macclesfield Town in the Carabao Cup last week, and could be out until the end of the season after suffering suspected medial ligament damage.
Manuel Pellegrini has seen his side’s fortunes improve recently in large part due to the success of the midfield three of Mark Noble, Declan Rice and Pedro Obiang, but there is precious little back-up to that trio at present.
It’s for that reason, then, that the Hammers should make a January move for Southampton midfielder James Ward-Prowse, who appears to have fallen out of favour at St Mary’s Stadium.
The 23-year-old was once regarded as the latest in a long line of top-quality graduates from the Saints academy, but he has seen his star wane in recent seasons.
The Englishman, on a reported £45,000-per-week [Source: Spotrac], made 35 appearances for Mark Hughes’s side last term, but only played 90 minutes on 14 occasions.
He claimed four assists to go with the five goals he scored last campaign, a creditable statistic for someone who hasn’t always been prolific in that area.
However, he has struggled to make in-roads into the Saints team at the start of this season. Ward-Prowse has made just two Premier League appearances so far, and is yet to complete 90 minutes in the league.
Clearly he is not a priority for Hughes, who prefers to select the likes of Mario Lemina, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oriol Romeu.
It’s not out of the realms of possibility, then, for West Ham to snare him from Southampton come January. If they make a £20million bid then that would surely be enough to bring the Saints to the negotiating table at least.
At 23 he is still young with plenty of time to improve, while his dead ball ability is regarded as among the best in the country. He could be a valuable asset for Pellegrini in the second half of the season.
Sanchez is out for a while, and the club cannot rely on Wilshere to stay fit, so Ward-Prowse makes sense as the perfect man to supplement the Hammers’ midfield.
