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Do you think he’d be a good signing for Sunderland or another Championship club?
JJ: “Yes I do. He needs to leave West Ham and play regularly to match his potential. There is no doubt he has got potential.
“From what I’ve seen of him, I see him as definitely a player who needs a spell in the Championship before maybe establishing himself in the Premier League, maybe at a bottom half Premier League club.
“I think he’s better off leaving West Ham and Sunderland would be a really good fit for him if he can go up there, start every game and really develop his football.
“Leaving for any club in the Championship or even League One would be a good move for him and I think he’d be a good signing, if you give him the opportunity to play. If he’s just going there to sit on the bench then I don’t think it would do him any good.”
Why West Ham striker is set to leave amid reported Sunderland interest and contract impasse
Sunderland are said to be interested in West Ham striker Divin Mubama – but would he be a good signing for the Black Cats?
The 19-year-old is set to leave the London Stadium following the end of his contract this summer, after reportedly turning down a new deal. Mubama has made 18 senior appearances for the Hammers but featured just five times off the bench in the Premier League during the 2023/24 season.
To find out more, we caught up with James Jones from the We Are West Ham Podcast to ask about the player’s situation.
How has Mubama fared at West Ham?
JJ: “When he first started breaking into the first team there was an initial feeling amongst the fans that he could be the answer to West Ham’s very well reported striker curse. At West Ham we love an academy product, historically our academy has been very good so there was a lot of excitement around him. But his game time didn’t really match the hype that was coming out of the club and people who were watching him regularly for the development squad.
“Partly that was down to David Moyes and his lack of trust for youth. Mubama didn’t really get the opportunity to show what he could do, but when he did play I think there was a general feeling that perhaps he wasn’t actually as good as people made out for the level we needed him to be at.”
Why has he turned down a new deal at West Ham?
JJ: “I think he’s doing the right thing by turning it down. He was in and out of the first team squad and then the only opportunities he really got was when he was starting in meaningless games in Europe against very poor teams or early stages of FA Cup or League Cup games. The rest of his time was coming off the bench with five minutes to go.
“From his standpoint he’s probably incredibly frustrated that he’s kind of made the step up to a first-team environment for the last two seasons but hasn’t seen it go further. He probably thinks if he signs another three-year deal, with a new manager coming in, if he can’t impress that manager it’s going to be the same thing for him.
“I think he’s better off leaving the club. He’s not going to develop his football coming off the bench for the last five or ten minutes every week. If he is going to match that hype that was around his name, he has to be playing 90 minutes every week and he’s just not going to get that at West Ham.”
“The reality is after all that hype, I don’t think Mubama is good enough for this level yet, and that’s probably why Moyes didn’t give him the opportunities that perhaps fans felt he deserved. At the end of the day the fans aren’t seeing what goes on at the training ground everyday. From what I gather his attitude is very good anyway, but all we are seeing is youth coaches, Mark Noble, Declan Rice come out and say he’s a really good player.
“The other factor is West Ham have had quite a lot to play for in the last few years and it would be unfair to chuck a 19-year-old striker in when you have experienced players like Michail Antonio who you know you can trust.”
What are his main strengths?
JJ: “He’s strong. I think for a 19-year-old he’s a pretty strong player, got some pace behind him. We’ve seen from the development squad he can finish. He’s scored a lot of goals for the youth team in the development squad which is where the initial hype came from.
“We haven’t seen a great deal of him at the highest level to really go ‘yes, that’s the role he should play and the type of striker he is.’ What we have seen is that he puts himself about, he’s got a bit of pace and for his age he’s strong. I don’t think he’d have any problems coming up against big centre-halves in the Championship.
“He’s a finisher, he gets himself into good areas and has scored one goal for West Ham, has had two disallowed, some have gone down as own goals as a result of getting into really awkward situations for defenders.”
