New York Red Bulls centre-back Aaron Long has struggled to secure the work permit he needs for a move to West Ham, but is not giving up on it, as reported by Dharmesh Sheth speaking on Sky Sports, via The Daily Star.
The Hammers have triggered the player’s £4m release clause, though the issue is that they haven’t been able to get the deal accepted by the Home Office.
However, representatives of the 26-year-old who has played for USMNT 11 times, are still attempting to get a work permit.
There is also interest in his services from Fiorentina, Lyon, Marseille and Rennes.
Long has played for NYRB 13 times in the current MLS season, scoring one goal, as per WhoScored – though the number of appearances would have been higher if it wasn’t for his run to the Gold Cup final with USMNT.
During this time he has made 0.6 tackles, 1.2 interceptions, 5.5 clearances and 0.8 blocks per game, while he only completed 65.4% of his passes.
If he was to join West Ham, Long would need to improve on his distribution, as Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena completed 86% and 79.4% of their passes respectively.
However, Long’s game has rapidly improved since he joined NYRB in 2016, with the American winning MLS Defender of the Year in 2018, after being a central figure in the defence which conceded 33 goals in 34 games as they won the Supporters’ Shield, as per MLS – having also made his national team debut in 2018.
This highlights that the player is on an upward trajectory and having seen Balbuena join West Ham from a lesser league, as a 26-year-old, before going on to excel under Manuel Pellegrini’s tutelage, there are positive signs.
This would be a good move for West Ham which would also represent decent value at £4m given his stats mentioned above and his improvement over the last few years.
It also offers a low level of risk, as Long wouldn’t have the pressure of being the Hammers’ starting centre-back, at least initially.
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