To loan or not to loan…That is the question.
Martin Samuelsen is, without a shadow of doubt, one of the most exciting young prospects not only in the UK, but in the world. You really won’t find many 19-year olds like him. He is skilful, intelligent and confident on the ball. But where does this wonder-kid stand in the first team? Is he ready for the spotlight, or does he need more time?
Samuelsen spent half of last season on loan to League One Peterborough United last season, and to be honest, the loan was not a success. However, you could argue that the management of Samuelsen was fairly poor, with ex Peterborough boss Graham Westley often blaming his flair players for the poor results, rotating Samuelsen (and others) out of the squad on a regular basis.
But Samuelsen’s loan spell was not all doom and gloom, he still had his moments of magic. One of the most impressive and promising of these moments was his performance against West Brom in the Capital One Cup. Brom fielded a very strong team, yet still they struggled to control the West Ham man, who tore them apart! His skill and confidence for an 18 year old (at the time), was unbelievable. And, more importantly, he proved he can already do it against Premier League standard opposition. But whether he can do that on a regular basis at this moment in time is yet to be seen.
Samuelsen is, as I have already said, way ahead of his fellow peers. His movement is, in my humble opinion, just as top-class as his dribbling. He actually reminds me of Payet, in terms of positioning. He-nearly-always starts out wide, but loves to drift inside to find those pockets of space. Last pre-season Samuelsen also confirmed that Payet was mentoring him with free-kicks. But I suspect there is more to it than just free-kicks. The way Samuelsen played in both American Tour pre-season games reminded me a lot of Payet, in terms of movement. So, perhaps, there is more than free-kick mentoring going on?
After reading what I’ve written above, many of you may be screaming at your screens: “JUST PLAY THE LAD!” But is he really ready? I think he could do a job, mainly coming off the bench in the Premier League. However, I think we should loan Samuelsen out, preferably to a Championship team. As talented as he is, we already have Payet, Lanzini, Feghouli, Tore and Antonio ahead of him in the pecking order, and that’s not including any new signings which may be coming our way! As incredible as young Samuelsen is, it is just not his time yet. However, I have thought of a compromise…
Is it worth, maybe, just maybe, keeping him in the first team squad until January? With Europa League, Premier League, Capital One Cup and FA Cup coming up, he might prove useful. Chances are that over the next 5 months or so,we will come up against some rather poor and far away teams. Could Samuelsen play a role in beating lower division teams we face in cup’s? And maybe in the Europa League too, when we’re drawn against some random Ukrainian team, for example. Could we use players like him, who are obviously talented, to give the likes of Lanzini and Tore a rest from what will be a busy schedule?
What do you think? Should we keep Samuelsen, or loan him? Does my idea of keeping him until January and then deciding then appeal to you? Drop a comment down below!
I personally would keep Samuelsen until the last possible moment until the Loan window shuts for championship teams. WHU should line up a suitable loan in advance – meaning we keep him as cover for the late returning Payet, the Olympics bound Lanzini and whilst we bed Tore and Feghouli into the team.
Don’t forget, League Cup games start soon after the season itself does.
Interesting when it comes to players who have that special ability but are under 20 years old…Tony Cottee and many other football greats graced the senior XI at a time when they demonstrated these abilities that made them stand out from the norm.
These days we tend to protect such talent, with the players we have now at West Ham I believe more first team experience , especially in training will do the boy good…so I’m leaning towards play Samuelsen and not loan him out.
I’m my opinion I think we should keep him. Cup games, Europe, this will give him and other young lads the opportunity to bond as first team players. But if we do loan him out I would send him out to Southend united.
I think the reason we are collecting and attracting all these young players if with an eye on the cups. It’s tough playing in Europe and the league and WHU are not yet big enough to run two ‘snr’ squads. Let’s hope we can make it as far as the group stage this time
I like the idea of keeping him till January. The only thing is, will the lad settle for bench roles or being used to keep first framers fresh or would he rather go on loan for 1 more season to get regular action and improve his own development before playing a bigger and more prominent role in the 2017/18 season??
I think your opinion is just Wright for the lad that would keep him interested give him the conference and we could monitor him in his progress
Play him instead of loaning him out, or Loan him with conditions attached to a team you know and a coach you trust.
I think he should be given an opportunity with us looked like a real talent and would be good to throw on in early stages of Europa league or fa cup
We need to sign him to a long term deal and then lend him to a top Championship team. We also need to get Oxford and Burke on longer deals in my opinion. I’m sure DS will be looking to do this over the summer.
I think he should go on loan to a championship club for 3-6 months and if he keeps his performances up get him back and get him involved!
Keep him like you say atleast till Jan whilst these extra games will be available.
When Samuelson signed for the club there was no Dimitri. Nor did we have Lanzini, Feghouli or Antonio. He saw this club as a great opportunity to develop. Sending such a talent out on loan is nothing more than what he might have achieved at City. I suspect that both Samuelson and Oxford might have expected more game time as part of their transition in the later part of the last campaign. The fact that they had to watch people like Moses and The big forward we bought in January (I have already forgotten his name) fail at every opportunity must have rubbed the wrong way. Sooner or later the manager has to inject the players and let them get on with it. Failure to do,so will most certainly result in them having their heads turned.
Loaned out last season and impressed massively. I saw him play in the home leg of the Dev Squad Cup Final v Hull and he is so gifted. Keep him at OS and use him in all Cup Competitions and as a sub in selected Premiership matches to see how he progresses.If he is involved in 1st Team Squad it will develop him even more.
Last year I said (elsewhere) that MS should be played and I haven’t changed my opinion, so I don’t think he should be loaned out during this window, nor the others who are biting at the heals of the1st team of that matter, as we have a fair few games coming up. We don’t have a big squad so we should being using our younger players intelligently. Come January things may well be different, I think Martin will be a really good and popular WHU player but ultimately I trust the coaches to do the best for him to achieve that so that he, and the others, stay WH players for years to come.
Keep him and give him half a game with the fist team