Former West Ham United left-back Manny Longelo has opened up on his frustrations of not properly breaking into the Hammers’ first-team squad prior to joining Birmingham City.
The 22-year-old Barking-born defender left the Hammers permanently on January transfer deadline day to join the Blues after spending the first half of the season out on loan at St Andrew’s.
Prior to his loan exit, Longelo played twice for West Ham’s first-team, making his debut as a substitute against Hull City in the Carabao Cup in September 2020 before playing the duration of a Europa League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
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However, having struggled to permanently break into West Ham’s first-team squad, Longelo was sent out on loan to Birmingham, although he suffered an injury shortly before his loan exit, delaying his initial switch to the West Midlands.
Longelo has opened up on his frustrations at not making the grade at West Ham, who he first joined at the age of ten.
“I thought I’d done enough to be around the squad. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen,” Longelo told The Athletic.
“It hurt a lot because I started asking myself, ‘What more do I need to do?’ Then I got injured after, which was annoying because I was supposed to go out on loan.”
The defender has also opened up on the night of his first and only start in a West Ham shirt last season against Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb.
Longelo explained how at first, he was confused after being left out of the under-21s squad for a match against Crystal Palace, only to discover that it was because of first-team call-up.
“The build-up to the game was crazy because I was supposed to play against Crystal Palace with the under-21s, but Mark Robson (under-21s manager) pulled me in his office and said I won’t be travelling,” Longelo added.
“I was thinking, ‘What do you mean? Why am I not travelling?’ Then he said it’s because I’ll be training with the first team. Then Mark Noble and Declan Rice came up to me and said, ‘You know you’re playing, right?’
“I said, ‘Yeah, right’. They banter a lot so I just assumed they were joking. But then Dec said, ‘Sixty-thousand people on a European night, hope you’re ready’. Then I realised he was being serious.
“The day of the game I was so nervous. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t stop thinking about the match and it was so bad I couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m actually playing’.”
“I remember they scored a great goal and I thought this could either go two ways and I’d hate for it to go the bad way. But I became more confident during the game. At half-time the manager (David Moyes) praised me and Harrison Ashby. He said: ‘The young boys are full of energy, keep giving them the ball’. That gave me a lot of confidence because he doesn’t normally give compliments.
“My family and friends came to the game. Everyone kept telling me how well I played. I actually thought I didn’t play that well. But then my phone started blowing up after. My family kept telling me I made them proud.”
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