OPINION
This season hasn’t been an entirely smooth one for West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini and, despite Saturday’s late 3-2 win over Huddersfield Town, grumblings about the Chilean have begun to emerge.
He is not universally popular as he perhaps was earlier in the campaign. However, little things like extending youngster Ben Johnson’s contract on Wednesday show that the former Manchester City boss has his eye on the ball.
Pellegrini is looking to the future. He wants the Hammers to be successful and to make progress for a long time to come, he’s not just thinking about this campaign.
Johnson is just 19 years of age and has made only one senior appearance for the club, against City in February, but he has been a regular part of Pellegrini’s first team squad this season and has obviously made excellent progress behind the scenes.
We’ve seen that Pellegrini doesn’t countenance picking players unless they are doing well in training, meaning that the teenager is obviously producing enough during the week to gain his manager’s attention.
Johnson is a versatile defender who can operate in both full back positions, which is important because those two roles are amongst the most uncertain at the club moving forward.
At right back, Ryan Fredericks has enjoyed a mixed first season at the club, while Pablo Zabaleta is 34 years of age and won’t be around for much longer. On the other side, neither Aaron Cresswell nor Arthur Masuaku have genuinely impressed this term.
It’s likely that Pellegrini will look to upgrade those positions this summer, but either way he has someone he can rely upon to fill in on either side if and when he’s needed.
Promoting academy players and making smart decisions off the field can mask over a multitude of sins for a manager. Pellegrini’s team still need to find more consistency, but Johnson’s extension is the latest smart move the club has made this season and is a big boost for the supporters.
