Former West Ham United midfielder John Moncur has compared current Irons starlet Jeremy Ngakia to £50m Manchester United right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the latest We Are West Ham podcast (March 11).
What did he say?
Well, the ex-Hammers star was asked about the teenager, who has made his first-team breakthrough for the east London outfit with four successive Premier League starts in the absence of the injured Ryan Fredericks.
Moncur said (18:51): “There’s a rawness about him. He’s got a lot of natural talent. He eats the ground up and he looks good at times going forward. He reminds me a little bit of Wan-Bissaka, the way he’s leggy and he’s a good defender.”
He added: “I think he’s been a real bonus, and when someone comes in like that it gives the whole squad a lift, because you think ‘blimey, we’ve got a signing here for nothing’.”
Did he really play for us?! No West Ham fan has managed to name all of these obscure Irons signings….
Has he established himself already?
The interesting thing is that even though Pablo Zabaleta has been fit and available, it is the 19-year-old who has been preferred in the full-back role in Fredericks’ absence.
That says a lot about the youngster as a player and how well he has performed so far, with David Moyes willing to place his faith in him despite the club ultimately finding themselves in a Premier League relegation battle.
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In addition, he has dealt admirably with the likes of Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Arsenal ace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang since being introduced by his manager in recent weeks.
He may be youthful, but there has certainly been no reason for the Scot to consider dropping him when Fredericks returns from his time on the pitch to date, and he is very much in a position to continue making the spot his own.
Ngakia will hope to keep proving a point between now and the end of the 2019/20 campaign, and show that a more youthful look for this West Ham team – alongside the likes of Jarrod Bowen – could be the way forward next term should they retain their top-flight status.
In other West Ham news, Irons fans have been discussing a midfielder who has been linked with an exit from the London Stadium…
