During Saturday’s 1-1 friendly draw at Roots Hall, West Ham United may have dropped a hint about the potential first-team involvement of young right-back Ryan Battrum.
Jarrod Bowen assisted Konstantinos Mavropanos’ equaliser late in the first-half as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side played out a competitive draw away to fifth-tier Southend.
Nuno fielded a pretty strong starting XI in Essex – Taty Castellanos and Mads Hermansen started alongside the skipper and the Greek defender – before changing his entire team midway through the second stanza.
What caught your eye as West Ham and Southend drew 1-1?
Who impressed you the most at Roots Hall?
Among the various academy kids to enter the fray was Ryan Battrum.
And the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that West Ham United’s blonde-bomber of a right-back entered the fray sporting a new number on the back of his shirt.
Ryan Battrum gets Lukasz Fabianski’s old West Ham United shirt number
Though Battrum has never featured in a competitive match for the Hammers, his official shirt number last season was 64.
Now, however, he appears to have been handed the number 22.
A shirt that was previously the property of Said Benrahma, Sebastien Haller, Les Ferdinand and Jussi Jaskelainen, it was vacated when Lukasz Fabianski’s contract expired at the beginning of the month.
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That Battrum is now donning the 22 is no guarantee of anything, but it does suggest that the 20-year-old may have a part to play in Nuno’s first-team plans going forward.
Usual fight-choice right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka is expected to depart, after all. Thus, leaving Kyle Walker-Peters as the only senior right-sided full-back in the squad.
Having impressed across 15 Premier League 2 appearances last season – even captaining the club on occasion – Battrum may go into the Championship campaign providing back-up to new first-pick Walker-Peters.
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