West Ham had a 'bigger talent than Rice' but now he's not played all season

West Ham had a ‘bigger talent than Rice’ but now he’s not played all season

Without a doubt, the best talent to come out of West Ham United’s academy in recent times is that of Declan Rice. The defensive-midfielder managed to captain his boyhood club to a European title and is one of the most expensive British players ever after his £105m sale to Arsenal.

Granted, the midfielder did spend some of his career at Chelsea, but the majority of his development came whilst with the Hammers.

Despite the fee involved being an obscene amount of money for any player, Rice has proven to be worth every penny to Arsenal within the first half of the season.

The 25-year-old has played a total of 34 games for the Gunners this season and has managed to contribute to nine goals during that time. That is, despite being deployed in defensive-midfield for the vast majority of his games this season.

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Of all the Premier League summer transfer window signings, it’s hard to choose another addition who comes close to having a similar sort of impact on their respective team.

However, one of the few names which springs to mind is Dominik Szoboszlai’s. The Hungary international has brought a new layer of depth to Liverpool’s attack thanks to his passing range and vision.

The 23-year-old was signed by Jurgen Klopp for a fee worth £60m. Since arriving in Merseyside, the attacking-midfielder has played 28 games and has managed to contribute to a total of nine goals during that time.

Although flashy signings are all well and good, the backbone of every team should be their academy. This is one area of the club that West Ham have seemed to run well in recent seasons.

Players such as Joe Cole, Frank Lampard and Michael Carrick were all developed within the West Ham youth setup and managed to have longstanding Premier League careers.

However, one player who was touted for greatness on more than one occasion is that of Reece Oxford.

Why Reece Oxford was rated so highly

Many outside of West Ham may not have heard of the defender, but the former sporting director of Borussia Monchengladbach, Max Eberl, heaped praise on Oxford in 2017 with some stellar words: He is one of England’s best defensive talents.

Eberl stated: “Reece Oxford has played for England at youth level and is considered one of the country’s best young defensive talents. This loan deal gives us the chance to add a very interesting player to our squad.

“On top of that, we’ve had good experience with signing young Premier League players in the recent past.”

Receiving this sort of praise at the young age of 18 shows just how talented Oxford was. The towering centre-back even made 17 appearances for West Ham whilst at the club.

He oozed so much talent that the Daily Star even reported that some rated the youngster ‘higher than Declan Rice.’

Speaking about the development of the two players, Slaven Bilic once commented: “A couple of years before, when I’d come to West Ham, I couldn’t move around the place without hearing that Reece Oxford was going to be the next big thing.

“Reece made his debut at 16 and we beat Arsenal 2-0, you can imagine the hype. He had an entourage, he got injuries, maybe lost a bit of confidence and focus. Dec’s [Rice] was a different story. He was able to come in without the same expectations.”

Despite becoming The Hammers’ youngest-ever player, things were seemingly not meant to be for Oxford at West Ham as he underwent multiple loan spells with German sides Borussia Monchengladbach and FC Augsburg.

What happened to Oxford and where is he now

The latter of those aforementioned loan spells was eventually turned into a permanent deal in 2019 when the Bundesliga minnows forked out a fee rumoured to be worth around £2.1m for the youngster.

Since his arrival at Augsburg, the defender has managed to appear a total of 71 times for the club whilst scoring three goals.

However, things have since taken a turn for the worse, as Oxford hasn’t managed to play a game of football since last season.

This is likely due to the muscular problems he has been suffering with since last season which have, so far kept him away from the pitch for a total of 32 games.

Despite his deterioration of playing time this season, Oxford is still just 25-years-old so, upon his return to first-team football, he could yet rekindle his career and find his form from his earlier days.