Reece Oxford
According to Daily Mirror, Premier League side Crystal Palace are interested in FC Augsburg defender Reece Oxford.
A former West Ham graduate, Oxford currently plies his trade with Bundesliga outfit. However, after a brilliant start in 2015, debuting as West Ham’s youngest ever player at 16 years and 198 days, Oxford’s career has now hit a downward spiral.
The 21-year-old centre-back has featured just eight times for the Bundesliga strugglers Augsburg, who are just five points adrift of the relegation zone.
Oxford, who has represented England in the youth levels, featuring for their U-16, and U-20 squads, failed to establish himself at West Ham.
This saw the young centre-back spend most of his time on loan in order to get more game time. During his time with West Ham, Oxford had loan spells at Reading, Borussia Monchengladbach, and most recently in Augsburg, before they signed him permanently last summer.
Though he did not feature in a lot of matches Oxford did good while he was at Monchengladbach, attracting interests from clubs in Germany. Despite all this, Oxford has still struggled to break into the Augsburg side, which is evident from the number of matches that he has played this season.
However, having made his Premier League debut for the Hammers back in 2015, and featuring nine times that season aged just 16, there is no denying Oxford’s potential. Now with the coronavirus outbreak putting a lot of clubs under financial crisis, sides such as Crystal Palace have set their eyes on the young centre-back as a potential summer target (h/t Daily Mirror).
Meanwhile, the Eagles, under Roy Hodgson, have had a mixed season, with the club lying 11th in the league standings. Though their backline has done a decent job conceding just 32 league goals, they need some young blood in their squad.
Palace currently have as many as five defenders, of whom four are already past their thirties. Centre-backs Gary Cahill (34), Mamadou Sakho (30), James Tomkins (31), and Scott Dann (33) have been good enough. However, they are not getting any younger.
The Eagles just have one young face in defence – Jairo Riedewald. But the 23-year-old has not yet impressed Hodgson and is way down the pecking order. The Dutch centre-back has made just 10 league appearances this season, making it clear that he is not on top of Hodgson’s plans.
With the side clearly having a dearth of young talents at the back, Crystal Palace’s pursuit of Oxford seems like a welcoming sign. Hence, the Eagles must continue their hunt for the young Englishman and buy him soon at Selhurst Park.
Having proved his mettle in the English top-flight at a very young age, there is no doubt that Oxford is a talent. Moreover, he is still young and has plenty of time to develop under the guidance of a senior coach like Hodgson. By signing him, Palace will be making a good future investment.
