Just as Kaelan Casey was starting to get going at Swansea City, an unwanted obstacle may have been placed in the path of the West Ham United starlet.
Now, a change in manager is not necessarily a bad thing.
Gideon Kodua reunited with Matt Bloomfield when West Ham United’s 2023 FA Youth Cup winning captain joined his old Wycombe Wanderers boss at Luton Town over the summer. A dreadful start to the League One campaign saw Bloomfield sacked, though, and replaced by none other than Jack Wilshere.
Fortunately for Kodua, Wilshere is a big fan of the Hammers starlet himself. He, after all, was the Arsenal Under-18 coach when the 21-year-old secured that Youth Cup title with a sublime lob a couple of seasons ago.
Now, a month into the Wilshere reign, Kodua is establishing himself as Luton’s go-to game-changer. Another late goal, his third after the 83rd minute already this season, secured a point at Bolton over the weekend.
A weekend in which Kaelan Casey, in contrast, would not make a game-changing contribution off the bench. In fact, he didn’t even get on the pitch as the Vitor Matos reign at Swansea began with successive Championship defeats.
Kaelan Casey has been dropped by new Swansea City coach Vitor Matos
After holding his own against Manchester City in a valiant Carabao Cup defeat in October, the Swansea faithful likened Kaelan Casey to Marc Guehi. The Crystal Palace captain who enjoyed a breakout campaign on loan in South Wales.
Casey, strong as the proverbial ox and a fine passer of the ball himself, was starting to show shades of a young Guehi in Swansea white. The West Ham loanee was ‘wonderful’ up against Omar Marmoush and co, in the words of then-coach Alan Sheehan.
On the back of that, Casey started three of the next four Championship games. The 21-year-old even provided an assist, his first in senior football, to snatch a point away at Charlton Athletic.
But while Wilshere took an immediate liking to Kodua at Luton – excited to see how a player who tore his Gunners starlets aside had developed in the years since – it appears that Sheehan’s Swansea replacement will need some convincing.
One of Vitor Matos’ first acts in the Swans dugout was to relegate Casey back to the bench. He has not played a minute under the former Liverpool assistant yet. Casey has work to do in Wales, then.
It took him three months to force his way into the starting XI. All it took for him to lose his spot was a change of manager.
Casey will still hope to emulate George Earthy and Freddie Potts
The positive news is that Ben Cabango and Cameron Burgess, the two men ahead of Casey in Matos’ pecking order, are hardly setting the world alight.
Swansea lost 2-1 at home to Derby County in the Portuguese’ first game in charge. In his second, they raced into a 2-0 lead away to Ryan Mason’s West Brom, only to collapse in a topsy-turvy five-goal thriller at the Hawthorns.
Yet, the fact that Matos even started central midfielder Jay Fulton ahead of Casey for that Derby defeat will worry a youngster who left East London in pursuit of the sort of regular game time Freddie Potts and George Earthy enjoyed during their own Championship loan spells, at Portsmouth and Bristol City respectively.
Earthy has been in outrageous form for West Ham’s reserves since returning from a hamstring injury. Given that Nuno will be without Lucas Paqueta for the trip to Manchester United on Thursday, a return to the matchday squad may be on the cards for an attacking midfielder who has seven goal contributions in six Under-21 matches.
The Hammers’ Loans and Pathways Manager Carlton Cole is thrilled with Freddie Potts’ progress, meanwhile. After winning Portsmouth’s Young Player of the Year award in May, he is now one of the first names on Nuno’s team sheet.
“I was speaking to Carlton Cole before the game and he was absolutely thrilled,” Rob Green, the former West Ham goalkeeper, told Sky Sports during Sunday’s 2-0 defeat by Liverpool.
“He has been a standout performer since coming into the team.”
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