OPINION
West Ham defender Sam Byram is kind of the forgotten man at the club after seeing his loan spell at Nottingham Forest hit a snag earlier in the season due to sustaining an injury.
The 25-year-old suffered an injury during Forest’s League Cup victory over Newcastle United in August and has been stuck on the sidelines ever since, with not much said about his condition.
Yet trusted Hammers insider ExWHUEmployee shared on the latest episode of The West Ham Way on Phoenix FM that Byram was making significant process in his recovery while back at the London club and could make it back before the season ended.
“Sam Byram, I’ve had a lot of questions about him recently, he was on loan at Nottingham Forest and got injured against Newcastle and he is now back at the club resuming fitness, he is still technically a Notts Forest player I believe but he’s with us on getting match fit,” said the insider at 25:33 of the podcast.
“He seems to be making progress quite well, so he should feature again this season at some point.”
It seems apparent that Bryam’s loan deal with Forest is still in play as manager Aitor Karanka did previously reveal in November he was hoping to see the right-back back at the Championship club.
“I hope that he will come back – and I am not a doctor – in January or February,” Karanka told the Nottingham Post.
This means that the 25-year-old would no doubt be able to get playing time upon returning as it does look like Forest could do with him and he did actually show glimpses of his talent in the three appearances he made before getting injured.
While Byram’s West Ham career is still at risk of being permanently ended in the near future following the insider revealing the player could get back to feature before the season ends he at least has a chance of saving it.
The 25-year-old is no doubt on the chopping block in the summer as it stands due to the fact he hasn’t wowed at the London Stadium since arriving, hence why he was loaned out, and because his contract is set to expire in 2020.
Due to his contract expiring then, the summer is realistically the Hammers’ last chance to cash-in on him in order to get him off their books and get a respectable fee in return.
Yet if Byram is able to return and play to his full potential, perhaps the Hammers would be hesitant to call time on his career just yet and either give him a chance in pre-season or another short temporary deal in order to make his case.
