Fickle business, football. Lest any of our current crop of academy ‘starlets’ get too carried away, the importance of keeping both feet planted firmly on the ground will be emphasised by recalling the story of one youngster who had sky – high potential at the club but is now a €700,000 ‘also ran’: Worth less than one per cent of Declan Rice but, at the peak of his hype was, like Dec, considered a true West Ham Superstar in the making.
Incredibly, Still just 25 years old he has been virtually written off.
Slaven Bilic spoke highly of youngster Reece Oxford on his senior debut in 2015 when at just 16, after a 2-0 win against Arsenal when Oxford ‘pocketed’ Mesuit Ozil.
The Hammers manager stated at the time, back in 2015, :“I couldn’t move around the place without hearing that Reece Oxford was going to be the next big thing. “
Oxford himself, at the time:“It was a bit mind-blowing for me!” he recalled. “I was with the first-team a bit when I was 15 and had made a bench appearance in the League Cup the previous year then, when I turned 16, the manager said: ‘You’re in the first-team changing room now, so work for your spot. I did well in pre-season and we had the Europa League and he said ‘You’re playing’. I was a bit nervous as I was doing my GSCEs at the same time, so it was a case of juggling school and football”
Sadly Oxford made only 17 appearances for the Senior side. Whether it was too heavy a burden living with so much expectation coupled with injuries – who can be sure. His confidence disappeared, he left West Ham in 2019 after loan spells at Reading and Borussia Monchengladbach – for just £3 million when he was sold to FC Augsburg. He’s since played 80 times for the Bundesliga club, but hasn’t featured in 24/5 and missed big chunks of the last season with knee and thigh injuries.
And, amazingly, has a Transfermarkt.com value today of just €700,000.
What went wrong? Hype? Injury? Loss of focus? Probably all. It is a lesson our academy starlets would do well to read and remember amongst all the hype and plaudits. Footballfancast.com quoted a former coach, Jacek Kulig, as calling him ‘the forgotten talent of English Football’.
I’d love to sit down with Reece Oxford one day and hear it straight from the horse’s mouth. So much talent, so much hype. Such a shame.