Reece Oxford is poised to commit his long term future to the club according to the Daily Mail. Oxford, who turned 16 last month, is viewed as one of best Hammers Academy talents in many years with many of the Premier League’s top clubs looking to poach him from us over the last year.
Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal have all shown interest in the teenager in the past, leading to fears from within West Ham that we could lose Oxford as new contract talks with him stalled last year.
As a 15 year old, Oxford was an unused substitute in the Capital One Cup defeat against Sheffield United in September The central defender has been likened to former Hammers academy graduate Rio Ferdinand, could have left for a nominal fee in the summer when his contract was due to expire. He also captained England’s U-17s in the summer
Chairman David Sullivan previously said last year when Oxford was 15 "It’s a joke that they can just come in and nick your best players for just £250,000. Our academy costs just under £4 million a year to run. Up until this season you could nick a 15-year-old for about £50,000. I think they are going to change it now and there is going to be some retrospective compensation. So you’ll probably get £250,000.“If you lose someone for a few hundred thousand quid its nothing when the academy costs £4 million to run.”
Official confirmation that he has put pen to paper is expected in January.