West Ham United starlet Reece Oxford has revealed that he is happy to put the speculation about his future to bed after penning a new deal with the Hammers.
Fellow Premier League outfits Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal were interested in the youngster, who put pen-to-paper on a new four-and-a-half-year deal with West Ham.
Oxford, who turned 18 years today, has thus far made just two senior appearances for West Ham this season, with both of those coming in the Europa League qualifiers in August.
And the centre-back, who is currently out injured, expressed his happiness after extending his stay at the London Stadium because it will enable him to focus on his football, with the speculation about his future now due to come to an end.
Oxford went on to reveal that he shares a fantastic relationship with manager Slaven Bilic and he is hopeful about making further first team appearances this season.
relatedNewsStory
“I am happy to have signed my new contract”, he told the club’s official site.
“There was a lot of speculation about my future but I am happy that it has been done and I can get back to football. I just want to kick on now.
“I have made my family proud and hopefully I have made the fans proud that I have signed a new contract. Hopefully I can get into the team and help them throughout the whole season.
“I have a good relationship with the gaffer and hopefully I can get a lot of game time here. I have seen some of the old players like Joe Cole and Rio Ferdinand and I want to follow in their footsteps.
“Hopefully, I can become just as big as them or even bigger. Hopefully, I can step out and follow what they have achieved.”
Oxford spent time at West Ham’s academy before making his senior competitive debut for the club, aged 16, in a Europa League qualifier against FC Lusitanos in July 2015, thereby becoming the Hammers’’ youngest ever player.
The teenager has thus far clocked up 705 minutes over 14 appearances in all competitions for the east London club.
