Roshane Thomas drops update on worrying West Ham development, Moyes will be fuming - opinion

West Ham United defender Ben Johnson has rejected a six-year deal at the London Stadium.

That’s according to a claim made by Roshane Thomas, with The Athletic’s West Ham correspondent revealing in a recent post on Twitter that, following the news David Moyes’ side activated a two-year contract extension in the right-back’s deal, Johnson actually refused the chance to sign a long-term contract with the Premier League side.

In his tweet, the journalist said: “West Ham United offered Ben Johnson a six-and-a-half-year contract but failed to reach an agreement with the defender.”

Considering just how much potential Johnson is quite clearly in possession of, the fact that West Ham failed to convince the 22-year-old to commit his long-term future to the club is sure to have left Moyes fuming.

Indeed, over his 13 Premier League appearances so far this season – 11 of which have come as starts – the £6m-rated defender has been in excellent form for the Hammers, helping his side keep three clean sheets and scoring one goal, as well as making an average of 1.2 interceptions, two tackles, 2.5 clearances and winning 3.3 duels – at a success rate of 54% – per game.

These returns have seen the £19k-per-week Englishman average a highly impressive SofaScore match rating of 6.97, not only ranking him as the Irons’ best performing right-back but also as the club’s seventh-best player in the league altogether.

As such, it will perhaps come as no surprise that Moyes himself believes Johnson is a talent with an incredibly high ceiling, with the 58-year-old stating after the recent 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers: “I thought Ben did well.

“He has a lot to do and potential to step up. He got us forward, crossed it and had a couple of