West Ham United defender Winston Reid has cost the club over £4million in the last 18 months for next to nothing, according to Claret & Hugh.
The reliable Hammers news source claims that the New Zealand international has been out of action through injury for 484 days, around the year and a half mark.
Spotrac claims that the 31-year-old is on a £70,000-per-week contract, something which has obviously been paid out regularly despite his time on the sidelines.
He has three times been scheduled for comeback games for the Irons’ Under-23s this season, but each one has been shelved due to fresh injury concerns.
OPINION
There’s no disputing the fact that Reid has cost the Hammers a lot – a lot – of money over the past year and a half. He hasn’t made a competitive appearance for the east London outfit since March of 2018 against Swansea City. It’s been such a long time – over a season of football – since we’ve seen him play and all that time, of course, he’s been accumulating £70,000-per-week. That’s not a criticism of him exactly, it’s just a fact. It’s normal practice in football to pay players while they’re injured, because it’s not their fault that they’re sidelined, but in a case like this it must be hugely frustrating for the club. West Ham had a similar situation with Andy Carroll over the past few years and they eventually moved on from him this summer. They’ve stuck with Reid and seem determined to give him every chance to make a comeback, but he’s costing them a fortune for nothing on the pitch. It’s a frustrating situation all round, let’s just put it that way.
