West Ham rejected the chance to sign Owen Otasowie before he joined Wolves according to a report from the Birmingham Mail.
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Wolves signed the 19-year-old up on a scholarship in 2017 after he had been on trial with the Hammers.
West Ham failed to offer him a deal, however, despite having been impressed by the teenager’s talents.
And the east London club could end up living to regret that decision.
Otasowie has already made a big impression with Wolves at Molineux.
He made his senior debut for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side in December last year during Wolves’ Europa League clash with Besiktas.
The defensive midfielder has made 32 combined appearances for the Black Country outfit’s under-18’s and under-23’s.
Otasowie has all of the attributes needed to go on and succeed at the very highest level of the game. And West Ham should surely have given the teenager a chance.
Lorenzo Dempster, the 19-year-old’s former coach at the Mass Elite Academy, likened the Wolves ace to Manchester United star Paul Pogba, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail:
“He has great athleticism, he’s confident on the ball and he always wanted the ball. He never shied away from the ball and was very strong. Otasowie has good hold up play, similar traits to (Paul) Pogba in that he knows how to protect the ball. He always played midfield for us. He’d always boss it and control the game.”
David Moyes obviously can’t be blamed for West Ham failing to sign the Wolves ace three years ago.
But the Scot might just end up paying for his predecessor’s decision not to pursue a move for the 19-year-old.
Only time will tell.
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