When Everton were rolling last season, thrashing Arsenal and pushing for Europe, there was still, in the muffled recesses of the supporters’ minds, a quiet nag. At that point, Romelu Lukaku, Gareth Barry and Gerard Deulofeu were three fantastic rotors, all gyrating with vigour, pushing the team up the table.
They also all happened to be at the club on a strictly temporary basis. As it turned out, Lukaku and Barry were subsequently secured as permanent Merseyside fixtures and the fans, ignorant to the decidedly disappointing 2014/15 season that was to come, breathed a sigh of relief. The uncertainty was over.
The flock at Upton Park are currently floating in the same iffy limbo. Two of their team’s most important footballing cogs are spinning unfastened, scheduled to return to their parent clubs if nothing is organised in the interim. Alex Song and Carl Jenkinson, two Arsenal cast-offs (Song more distantly) have become incredibly important to Sam Allardyce’s team, and have been tangible contributors to the Hammers’ excellent season so far. There have been moments where permanent deals for both have seemed likely, only for inaction to stale the good feeling. Allardyce should not be worrying about Everton-style second season syndrome for these two players – he should be focused on ensuring they have a second season in East London at all.
With only the coy, Twitter-based suggestions of owner David Gold to go on, the future of Carl Jenkinson remains murky. The 23-year-old has shone under the new fullback-propelled system that Allardyce has cultivated this season, and seems, accoutred in West Ham colours, hell-bent on running himself into the ground every week. This has only endeared him to the fans, and the mooted amounts that have been demanded by Arsenal seem, at worst, only moderately expensive. Whether £8 million or £12 million, the margins matter little here; watching how neutered the Hammers were on the break against Arsenal (with Jenkinson forced to sit out), a difference of a couple of million pounds is a trivial sticking point – yes, only in the world of football can this be said without irony. Simply put, his eager running and dynamite crossing are virtues too valuable to lose.
Earlier this month, when speaking about the refreshing youthfulness of his side, Allardyce had to qualify mentioning Jenkinson as a permanent part of the squad.
“So, as good as we are now, Carl Jenkinson [at 23 years old] – but he’s only on loan, so we may not secure him – Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia [all of whom are 25] all have the capability of getting better and better over the next three or four years.”
It cannot be a comfortable situation to be in, to be dreaming wildly of Olympic stadiums and young, auspicious squads, only to have to drag yourself back to an unsatisfactory reality. Jenkinson is a boyhood Arsenal fan, and his good form this season, in light of Mathieu Debuchy’s injury-enforced absence, is a double-edged sword. The better Jenkinson plays, the more Arsene Wenger is likely to reconsider him as an indispensable asset. Jenkinson has not eased up over the international break either, laying on a smart assist in the England Under-23 team’s 2-2 draw with Germany. For Allardyce, it has been demonstrated this season that Joey O’Brien is a massively inferior offensive threat, and this source of attacking energy is vital. Jenkinson has made as many key passes (16) as striker Diafra Sakho, and only three fewer than midfield metronome Alex Song.
And so, conveniently, to Song. Arriving from Barcelona as he did, and carrying a slightly soiled reputation (such was the way he aggravated for his move away from the Emirates), Song has always felt a little ill-at-home in claret and blue. And yet, though his form has fluctuated, he has proved himself still a very effective player in the league. Two seasons of relative indolence in Catalonia have done little to dull his appetite for the tackle, nor his sense for a sudden, defence-splitting pass from deep. Anonymous performances, like Song’s run-out against Crystal Palace, are an unwelcome tendency, but when his dander’s up, Song can impose his will on a midfield. Against Arsenal, even in that 3-0 loss, he was close to the best player on the park. The diamond midfield that Allardyce has often (but not often enough) utilised this term favours the presence of at least 2 two-way players. Along with Mark Noble, Song has filled this role with distinction, inversely mirroring his midfield colleague, covering when needed and attacking when called upon. Only Song and Nemanja Matic have attempted more than 50 tackles and more than 30 take-ons this season.
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Song has made very clear his wish to remain in London. But that stat that he shares with Matic snags another potential issue. Chelsea have too discovered a need to strengthen in defensive-midfield; matches where Matic has been absent, whether through suspension or injury, his understudies have proved inadequate. So, here is another London club, with a bigger wage kitty, and a pressing need for a Song-type player. Song will demand a big wage, that much can be assumed. The proverbial spanner dangling treacherously above the works, it seems.
One fine season is all well and good, but permanence is better. The loan market is great for teams looking to strengthen short term, but West Ham have a brave new future peeking over the horizon. Talk of taking the next step is echoing around the corridors at Upton Park, corridors that are scheduled for demolition, and single-season loans are not the thing to give the club a breeze at its back.
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