West Bromwich Albion have announced that they have reached a unique agreement with West Ham United in which Callum Marshall will return to his original club. The teenager was one of three loan signings in the January transfer window, joining Celtic winger Mikey Johnston and Bristol City attacker Andreas Weimann.
Marshall, on the other hand, has only made three substitute appearances totaling 54 minutes since signing, and none since the 2-0 defeat at home to Southampton in mid-February. The Northern Irishman, who was away on international duty with his country recently, had scored 19 goals in 14 games for the Irons’ under-21s in the first half of the season but was unable to break into the first-team at The Hawthorns.
Marshall arrived at a time when Daryl Dike had just returned from a long-term Achilles injury and Brandon Thomas-Asante was still Carlos Corberan’s preferred striker to lead the line. Weimann also enhanced competition in that area, while Corberan has relied on his captain, Jed Wallace, as a front-man.
While Corberan has previously praised Marshall’s training levels, the teenager has understandably shown signs of rawness as he embarks on what will be his first daily foray into a first-team environment, having previously only joined David Moyes’ squad on a handful of occasions. With Josh Maja due to return to action soon, Albion and West Ham have decided that Marshall will return to London.
It is not technically the end of the loan; clubs cannot officially terminate loans outside of transfer windows, and Marshall will not be able to play for the West Ham first team, but he is expected to play for the club’s under-21s in the remaining weeks of the season to gain more match experience. Similarly, if they consider it essential, Albion can bring Marshall back into the club at any time between now and the end of the season.
It’s an amiable arrangement, with the player’s best interests in mind throughout the final weeks of the season.
