Diego Poyet, like many fringe players at West Ham, returned to pre-season with a point to prove facing a make-or-break year.
The 21-year-old central midfielder joined West Ham on a free transfer two years ago from Charlton following a breakthrough campaign with the Addicks and was named their Young Player of the Year for the 2013/14 season.
Since then his West Ham career has been very stop start. He impressed during the Europa League qualifiers last summer but Slaven Bilic opted to send Poyet out on loan for first-team experience and signed Alex Song to replace him in the squad.
The Uruguay U20 international made 22 appearances for MK Dons in the first-half of the season before that loan move was cut short and he later re-joined Charlton until the end of the season, making just seven appearances in the process as they were relegated to League One.
Now Poyet is at a stage where he needs to be playing regularly with his cub or he may well seek a move away. With two years left on his contract, he really needs to impress the coaching staff now if he has any future at the club, and speaking to ReadWestHam after the Hammers’ 3-0 defeat to Seattle Sounders last night, that’s exactly what he wants to do.
“I’ve worked hard in the offseason, hopefully I have a good preseason and give myself the best chance to be able to stay here,” Poyet said. “It’s an amazing club and it’s going to be a very exciting season with the new stadium as well.”
The likes of Poyet, Josh Cullen and Marcus Browne will all be vying for minutes in pre-season to impress Bilic and co. enough to secure a place in the squad for the upcoming season. Poyet has age and experience on his side but we will know over the next few weeks where his future lies.
