Everton looking to add defensive depth with England U-20 international

Reece Oxford, after becoming West Ham’s youngest ever senior team player, has somewhat fallen off the radar. However, Sky Sports are reporting Everton are looking to snap him up for just £3m while the Hammers are quoting a price of £10m for the prodigious youngster.

The 19-year-old, who was part of the Tottenham Hotspur youth setup until he was 13 when he changed to the Hammers, made his debut at the age of 16 under former Evertonian Slaven Bilic in the Europa League qualifiers in the 2015-16 season. He is the second youngest player to have played in the Premier League, after Everton’s Jose Baxter, featuring against Arsenal who are his self-professed favourite club.

Since that time, he’s only featured in a further 16 games for the Hammers, and has spent time away on loan at Reading and in Germany with Borussia Moenchengladbach. He did reasonably well in the Bundesliga last season, featuring mostly as a right back and a defensive midfielder even though his preferred position remains centreback.

He has since made 35 appearances for England’s youth sides, from the Under-16 through to the Under-20 levels. The tall and lanky player is blessed with pace and good vision, though he struggles against physically imposing forwards, as seen when he came up against Everton’s Romelu Lukaku in early 2016.

Oxford will be behind Mason Holgate in the depth chart with Everton currently only having three senior centrebacks.