A young Mark Noble makes his entrance under the Boleyn lights as a 16 year-old. The crowd become excited at the thought of the latest West Ham academy product to enter the field. He clearly has talent and the West Ham fans know they’ve got a player on their hands.
Fast forward to 2019, that same man is in contention to start the new season. A pre-season training clip of an outside of the foot chip into Anderson confirms what most football fans don’t recognise. Mark Noble is one of the most technically gifted centre midfielders at the club.
He doesn’t have the pedigree of some of the midfielders. Wilshere is clearly the classiest midfielder we have. Lanzini has the intricacy to become a top PL number 10 and it is hoped he can gain the consistency this season to show it. Add a Spanish Under-21 European Championship winner and the Canning Town boy doesn’t stand out nearly as much. If only he was called Marcio Noblas.
Despite this, Pellegrini hasn’t remarked about moving him on or fazing him out of the first team. A man that has managed Real Madrid and Manchester City chooses to keep the Boleyn boy in the first team. Not only this, he has spent nearly £200 million in two summer transfer windows and is still yet to move for a midfielder to replace Noble.
An argument could be made for Declan Rice to replace him. He is an academy product and loves the club. He is fantastic at winning the ball back from the opposition and has kept it simple when it comes to passing. As a younger counterpart, you would anticipate he would keep Mark out the team. Yet Pellegrini chooses to play alongside Noble. This shows that Noble isn’t there to make up the numbers but that he is an integral figure at the club.
Looking further afield, Shelvey and Hayden from Newcastle have been muted as potential replacements. Shelvey owns a fantastic passing range that would undoubtedly benefit our attack. Hayden offers a steeliness that would support Declan in a 4-2-3-1. Noble, however, has offered both of these. He is a superb leader in the engine room as well. It isn’t that these players wouldn’t make an impact but could they bring what Mark has brought over the past 15 years?
I don’t think I am going to win anyone over with this argument because football fans want to see technical excellence over team contribution. That’s why defenders seldom win the Ballon D’or!. Although Mark Noble doesn’t jinx through a midfield like Wilshere, or delicately chip the ball over an onrushing keeper like Lanzini, he has offered the most complete midfield solution to West Ham over his generation. He is the last bastion of the Tony Carr era of academy products and deserves the right to call a day on his West Ham career when he wishes. If this is his last season in a starting role for the club, I am certain he will rise to the occasion and cement a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.
