West Ham United are at risk of losing young midfielder Conor Coventry in January as clubs queue up to sign him, according to Football Insider.
The outlet claims that the Hammers have offered the 19-year-old a new contract, as his current deal expires next summer, but have failed to give him the £5,000-per-week he wants.
The east London outfit are wary of having their fingers burnt by handing a youngster a big deal, as happened with former starlet Reece Oxford.
However, there are plenty of clubs poised to move in come the New Year, and they are prepared to give Coventry what he wants financially, as well as a pathway through to the first team.
OPINION
It certainly seems as if this Coventry situation is unravelling painfully from a West Ham point of view. Whether it’s Coventry himself or his advisors, someone has ensured that the young man is asking for way more money than the Hammers are willing to pay him. He’s an unproven teenager who has only appeared twice for the east London outfit, with both appearances coming in the Carabao Cup. West Ham are wary after the Oxford fiasco, and so they don’t want to simply hand out £5,000-per-week to someone who doesn’t deserve it yet. However, the danger there is that other teams could come in for the player and lure him away with the promise of the riches he’s being denied at the London Stadium. If you’re West Ham, though, you simply have to stick to your guns. Yes, Coventry is a terrific young player, but he’s showing some character issues here. As we saw with Oxford, all the talent in the world doesn’t matter if the player isn’t in the right place mentally.
