OPINION
Newcastle United must pursue West Ham defender Reece Oxford in the days that remain of the transfer window and potentially beat Everton to his services.
Rafa Benitez is on the lookout for a new centre-back to arrive at St James Park before the window shuts, as reported by the Chronicle, as he wants someone capable of covering for the loss of Florian Lejeuene to injury.
Sky Sports reported on Friday that the Magpies’ Premier League rivals the Toffees were considering launching a £3million bid for Oxford even though the Hammers were thought to want £10million.
However why the offer may seem low, there maybe be chance that it could be accepted as the Hammers haven’t been flooded with offers for the enforcer this summer.
This is believed to be the case as reliable Hammers’ insider ExWHUemployee shared on Friday via their Twitter account that the club may even look to loan him until January as no acceptable offer had emerged.
So far we have only received loan offers and we wanted to sell. This is the same with Hugill and Oxford. So we may have to bite the bullet and agree and loan till Jan, bring back and then sell then https://t.co/fB54ekQGqp
— ExWHUEmployee (@ExWHUEmployee) August 3, 2018
Given the Magpies’ tendency to be slow in the transfer window and the Hammers’ desire to part with their £20,000-a-week enforcer (Source: Spotrac), as shown by the insider’s update, then Oxford is the perfect enforcer to attempt to bring in.
The 19-year-old centre-back, who has been deployed as a defensive midfielder as well as a right-back in his career, once looked like a promising talent in the Premier League.
However after rapidly breaking into the Hammers’ first team set-up, he has still only managed to make eight league appearance and has spent time away from the club on loan.
Oxford’s progress may have stalled but given Benitez’s knack for getting the best out of his players then perhaps he can restore the teenager’s once bright career.
Also as the teenager would be recruited mainly to be cover for the Magpies’ first-team options then the Spanish manager has time to unlock his potential in training.
Oxford has previously shown that he is a capable defender as he reads the game well and is very comfortable with the ball at his feet so he would fit into Benitez’s style of play.
Therefore the Magpies must pursue Oxford in the days that remain of the transfer window as he could be an easy deal to complete in order to bolster their options.
