West Ham United boss David Moyes may finally have settled on an understudy for Mark Noble.
Read: West Ham have their own Samuel Chukwueze claims fan favourite
Noble is not getting any younger but the living Hammers legend always stands up to be counted for West Ham.
True to form Noble saved his best for the run-in last season as the Hammers secured survival.
Mr West Ham needs an understudy on the pitch
Noble had bore the brunt of criticism last season during West Ham’s struggles. His lack of pace and mobility in the heart of midfield and West Ham’s lack of options in that position until the arrival of Tomas Soucek were partly to blame for a torrid run of results.
Noble came through when it mattered most, though, as he always does.
The homegrown captain turns 34 next season.
And while Declan Rice is seen as the natural successor to his captaincy, West Ham still need to start working on finding a successor to Noble the midfielder.
In that respect Moyes may just be onto something.
Has Moyes found the ideal man for the job as insider reveals Cullen call
That’s after reliable insider ExWHUemployee revealed that Josh Cullen will form part of a senior West Ham squad travelling to Scotland for pre-season this week.
West Ham are heading to St Andrews for a training camp before returning south for pre-season friendlies.
And Cullen will travel with them as he looks to finally establish himself as part of West Ham’s first team squad.
“We will be taking a senior squad to Scotland for the training camp in St Andrews,” ExWHUemployee said on Twitter.
“Not many academy players are travelling. Josh Cullen is one of the fringe players that is however….”
Cullen has earned rave reviews from each of his loan clubs over the last three years, Bradford, Bolton and most recently Charlton.
The midfielder has even played a starring role for the Republic of Ireland.
But it never seems to persuade West Ham to give him a chance.
When Cullen did get game time for the first team against the mighty Juventus back in 2016 he was excellent.
No longer a youngster, Josh must take his chance
But at 24 he can no longer be considered a youngster.
Moyes is clearly willing to give him an opportunity to stake a claim for a place in West Ham’s squad.
In many ways Cullen is the perfect replacement for Noble on the pitch.
A gutsy, all action midfielder who is tidy on the ball with a nice range of passing.
Nearly 10 years Noble’s junior, Cullen has the legs his skipper doesn’t too.
Cullen had no better reference than Noble himself singing his praises last season.
Noble spoke highly of Cullen in his Evening Standard column and backed him to have a good career.
Whether that is at West Ham remains to be seen.
But with money tight Cullen would surely make the perfect understudy for Noble this season at least.
Read: West Ham have held talks with player but face competition from Celtic – insider
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
