Winston Reid is unlikely to return to competitive action for West Ham anytime soon, according to reliable source Claret & Hugh.
The 6’3″ defender [Transfermarkt] has been sidelined for some time with a serious knee injury, but did feature in the Hammers’ preseason campaign.
According to the report from Claret & Hugh, however, Manuel Pellegrini is taking extra caution with reintegrating him into the first team picture.
It reads: “He [Reid] was due to have returned to full training this week but is unlikely to be seen in competitive action for a while yet as he recovers fully from a knee injury.”
OPINION
This is bad news for Reid, and potentially disastrous for his West Ham career. Not only has the New Zealand international been out of action for an eternity, but he is returning to a side that has no obvious place for him now. Both Fabian Balbuena and Issa Diop have come into the team and thrived, and at the age of 31, it’s hard to see Reid pushing his way back into Pellegrini’s long term plans. There is no doubting that he is a talented player – in 2016/17, his last full season for the Hammers, he recorded a Whoscored rating of 7.08 – but he has been desperately unfortunate, not just with his injury, but the timing of it too. Reid will no doubt keep fighting for his spot, but you can’t help feeling that it might be a losing battle.
