Soccer Football - Premier League - West Ham United v Arsenal - London Stadium, London, Britain - February 11, 2024 West Ham United manager David Moyes looks dejected after the match Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs
Carlos Corberan says Callum Marshall is continuing to grow – and that his West Bromwich Albion loan spell isn’t all about minutes. Teenager Marshall, who was scoring freely for West Ham United’s under 21s in the first half of this campaign, joined Albion on loan in January but he has only played 54 minutes to date spanning three appearances and has been an unused substitute in the last three matches.
Corberan does have a wealth of options after January; Mikey Johnston and Andreas Weimann have both made impacts, Grady Diangana has returned from AFCON, Tom Fellows has established himself and Adam Reach has recovered from injury. Suddenly, Corberan – who still has Brandon Thomas-Asante, Josh Maja and Matt Phillips to welcome back in the coming weeks – has a weekly selection dilemma, despite losing Daryl Dike to injury.
Marshall, by comparison, has had to bide his time. Corberan has enjoyed working with him in training on a daily basis and he reasons that Championship minutes – in a side chasing promotion to the Premier League, no less – aren’t the be all and end all of Marshall’s Albion experience. Merely continuing to develop his abilities and understanding in a first-team environment before returning to the Irons in the summer will be beneficial for Marshall.
“It’s a pity because he’s a player with a lot of good skills and he’s in a position where there is still a lot of growth,” Corberan explained. “He is in a growing process but he isn’t going to be just ready with game minutes. It’s part of this. We have players who went on loan to places where we wanted them to play, and they didn’t.
