Aji Alese has spoken about life at Sunderland, and his comments could be taken as another untimely pop at West Ham boss David Moyes.
West Ham United sold the young centre-back to Championship club Sunderland during the summer transfer window.
READ…Opinion: 13-cap int’l Rice said is ‘so good’ will surely leave West Ham at end of the season
David Moyes received plenty of criticism from the Hammers fans for letting the 21-year-old leave the London Stadium on a permanent deal.
West Ham only received around £500k plus add-ons for Alese as well, according to ExWHUemployee.
The deal did allegedly include a 25% sell-on fee but still, it seemed like a strange move at the time from the Hammers.
Alese has made a slow start to life with Sunderland.
He has played just 186 minutes for the Black Cats so far (Transfermarkt), but it seems as though Tony Mowbray’s recent appointment at the Stadium of Light might help get the best out of the former Hammer…
Aji Alese comments don’t paint a great picture of David Moyes
One of the main criticisms of the Scot recently has been his poor man management skills, especially when concerning the West Ham players who aren’t getting regular minutes.
On the flip-side, Alese told The Sunderland Echo how his current manager Tony Mowbray is great at putting his arm around those who are not playing regularly:
I can’t remember exactly what was said but I think it was along the lines of just go out there and play how you can play. He (Mowbray) knows I’m a good lad, he knows I’m a good player so just said go out there and enjoy it and that was it. He’s good with all the lads and if you’re left out he will put his arm around you and have a chat with you so it’s easy to get along with him.
Whether that was a dig at Moyes is debatable.
We think it might well have been though.
Aji Alese is an outstanding young talent and he definitely should have been given more minutes at West Ham – certainly in the cup games.
He may well end up flourishing with Sunderland. It’s worth remembering that the Championship is a completely different kettle of fish to the Premier League though. So the jury is still very much out on Alese.
Read also:
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