West Ham United centre-back Reece Burke will be allowed to leave on loan after the club’s FA Cup third round fixture against Shrewsbury Town on Wednesday. The club recalled him from his loan spell to Bolton Wanderers due to a lack of quality players in the defensive position.
Hammers coach Alan Irvine said: “We are really conscious that we wanted them to come back, we needed them to come back because of the situation prior to the first game but we don’t want to stop their development either so if we feel they won’t get sufficient time for us, and we can afford to do it, because we have senior players that will be involved instead then maybe we will look at that situation. Phil Parkinson [Bolton manager] is well aware and the boys are well aware too that we are not going to keep them here and sit them in the stand. We will see.”
This obviously puts Bolton in the pole position to retain the services of Burke at least for the remainder of the campaign. The Trotters are in the midst of a relegation battle themselves and are held off by just one point from the bottom three. Having conceded a staggering 45 goals already in the league this season, Burke’s presence is highly necessary as seen in the side’s 2-0 loss to Brentford on the weekend.
The 21-year-old is a product of the West Ham youth academy and made his debut for the club against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on 5 January 2014. He is a very big part of club’s future but has found first-team action hard to come by. A couple of loan spells to Bradford City and Wigan Athletic over the last couple of seasons has made a strong case for the youngster’s selection but clearly, his interests lie in playing regularly and not warming the benches.
David Moyes has turned things around for United from the poor start they endured and is currently stacked at the 11th spot of the points table. He is looking to make additions to the squad by offloading a few strikers. A midfielder is his prime concern but a couple of defensive and wing options will also suit well for the squad going forward.
The backline is currently filled up by Aaron Cresswell, Angelo Ogbonna and James Collins and Reece might not feature much other than a few sporadic roles in the FA Cup. A move should be sanctioned if Moyes wants the youngster to come in with a fresh attitude ahead of the following season.
