West Ham: GSB had a shocker on Reece Oxford | OneFootball

When Reece Oxford made his Premier League debut for West Ham United as a 16-year-old back in 2015, there was a great deal of excitement surrounding the youngster’s future in east London.

It is not difficult to see why this was the case, as, over his 79 minutes on the pitch in the Hammers’ 2-0 opening day victory over Arsenal, the versatile centre-back – who was deployed in central midfield against the Gunners – highly impressed, making three tackles, two interceptions and one clearance, as well as blocking two shots and winning four duels – with these returns seeing the teenager earn a SofaScore match rating of 6.8.

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How many Premier League goals did West Ham United score in the 2020/21 Premier League season?

57 62 67 72

However, after making just six further appearances in the league that season, Oxford was subsequently sent on a number of loan spells in order for him to continue his development in senior football – linking up with the likes of Reading, Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Augsburg.

Then, after the defender struggled to make any real impression during these stints away from his parent club, the West Ham board came to the conclusion that they would sanction the youngster’s permanent departure in the summer of 2019 – with Oxford joining Augsburg for just £1.8m, exactly half his £3.6m Transfermarkt value at the time.

Since then, however, the 23-year-old has not only gone on to establish himself as a first-team regular with the Bundesliga side, the former England U20 international has also developed into one of the most exciting defenders in the top flight of German football.

Indeed, over his 22 league appearances this season, the £9m-rated centre-back has been imperious in the heart of the Augsburg backline, helping his side keep seven clean sheets and scoring two goals, in addition to making an average of 2.7 interceptions, one tackle, 5.8 clearances and winning 4.7 duels – at a success rate of 62% – per game.

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These returns have seen the £11k-per-week starlet who Gary Lineker dubbed an “astonishing” talent average an extremely impressive SofaScore match rating of 7.03, ranking him as Markus Weinzierl’s joint-best performer in the top flight of German football – a quite remarkable feat considering Augsburg’s 15th place standing in the Bundesliga.

value – it is clear to see that the West Ham board had a shocker when shipping the defender off for such a small fee back in 2019.