West Ham manager David Moyes is looking to strengthen his back four this summer as a priority despite limited funds being available.
The Hammers manager has once again cast his eye to the Championship to see what diamonds he can dig up, much like he did Jarrod Bowen in January when the forward joined from Hull City for £22million.
Moyes won’t have that kind of money to spend this summer unless he manages to shift a few players on with the likes of Felipe Anderson on the chopping block to potentially fund some moves for incomings.
One of the players the manager has scouted and is looking to recruit this summer is Queens Park Rangers left back Ryan Manning, who Moyes watched a fortnight ago during Rangers’ 4-3 win against Millwall at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. Full back is an area that Moyes wants to make new recruits this summer and the manager has also scouted Wigan Athletic’s Antonee Robinson, the same day as Manning.
But what do we know about Manning, who has enjoyed quite a rapid rise to prominence since signs for the R’s in 2015. He certainly fits the young, hungry player profile that Moyes has been looking to bring to the club this summer.
Rangers saw off competition from plenty of clubs to secure the services of the defender from Galway United when brought to the club by Harry Redknapp. The former Hammers manager wouldn’t last much longer in west London though and the next two managers, Chris Ramsey and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, didn’t use Manning.
It was the arrival of Ian Holloway as manager that saw an upturn in fortune for Manning as a left wing-back and made his debut for the club in a victory at Wolves in 2016. After starting six successive games, Manning was handed a new contract until 2019.
The 24-year-old was then sent out on loan at the start of the 2018/19 season, joining Rotherham United for the season but after 18 appearances, he was recalled by his parent club back to west London after a few injury problems in the squad.
Manning started and played 90 minutes of the final six games of that season before really establishing himself as first choice in 2019/20, making 41 appearances for Rangers this past season.
The defender chipped in with five goals and seven assists across the campaign as Mark Warburton’s side briefly flirted with the play-off places but had to settle for a comfortable, 13th place finish in mid-table.
Internationally, the Galway-born defender has made 17 appearances across the youth levels for the Republic of Ireland and it’s only a matter of time before he receives his first senior cap for the Boys in Green.
