Billy McKinlay says positions in the West Ham United team will go to whichever player is producing the goods on the pitch, regardless of their name, age or reputation.
Maxwel Cornet and Divin Mubama were both on target in a 2-2 pre-season draw Dagenham & Redbridge on Saturday – two players who, for their own reasons, will be hoping for first-team opportunities when the 2023/24 campaign gets underway.
Cornet, who also provided the assist for Mubama's goal, made a flying start to his Hammers career in the UEFA Europa Conference League a year ago, only for a complex calf injury to rule him out for months and restrict his opportunities in the Premier League.
Mubama starred for the U21s and U18s, helping the latter win an FA Youth Cup and U18 Premier League South double, and has now scored three goals in four pre-season appearances, earning praise from manager David Moyes for his all-round performances.
McKinlay reiterated that positive appraisal of the 18-year-old following Saturday’s game at Chigwell Construction Stadium, while also confirming that Ivory Coast international Cornet will be eager to rediscover the form which saw him star for Olympique Lyonnais and Burnley prior to his switch to east London.
The assistant coach was also asked about the possibility of bringing in new signings in the near future.
The international boys have come back a bit later as we know so, as I’ve said before, it’s always good to get the first 45 or 60 minutes under their belts, so we’re really pleased with that.
It’s been a hard week’s training, so the game that comes at the end of that is always difficult physically.
As for Maxwel, he had a frustrating time last season and he looked sharp today and got a good goal and good assist, so we’re looking forward to him building up his fitness and seeing how he progresses over the next few weeks.
It’s a big season for him, because he’ll have been disappointed with the injuries he suffered last season, but there was not a lot he could do about it, so he’ll be looking to make an impression, as will everybody.
We’re back on it and today was a really good workout and we’ll get everyone back together on Monday, which is really good.
I think Divin has given us something to think about.
The gaffer said in Australia that he was really pleased with his contribution in the two games, so he’s had good exposure.
What we always say is: ‘You’ve got your opportunity and it’s really important that you take it because you don’t get too many’. He’s been really impressive for the first couple of weeks of pre-season, so it’s really important that he keeps it going.
Listen, it’s a simple equation that if you play well then you’re looking to get to the top of the pecking order and you’ll be in. Whether you’re 18 or 28, it doesn’t really matter.
Divin has got to continue his good performances that he’s had over the last two or three games, and Michail Antonio will be back in a few days after his break and ready to go and we’ll take it from there.
I think it’s always difficult to spend money in terms of getting the right money for the right player anyway, whether people know you’ve got a lot of money or not.
Obviously, every knows the Declan money is there so we’ll use it wisely. We won’t look to pay more than people are valued at, whether people think we have loads of money or not, that’s up to them.
We’ll pick our targets and we’ll pay the price according to how we value them. It might be a case of noise in terms of other people’s perceptions and if they’ll over charge or not, and I’m not saying they will, but we’ll get our targets, get our value for them and hopefully get them through the door.
