DAVID MOYES has suggested Conor Coventry could earn a senior Ireland call-up after the young midfielder featured for West Ham in their Europa Conference League clash with Silkeborg on Thursday.
The 1-0 victory, which guaranteed the Hammers’ progress to the knockout stages, saw the Ireland U21 record caps holder make his second start at senior level this season.
The 22-year-old also made his Premier League debut for West Ham off the bench in the 2-0 defeat by Man City last August but has yet to add to his sole top-flight appearance.
It followed a successful loan spell at MK Dons last season that saw the team’s bid for promotion to the Championship fall just short.
However, with Declan Rice, Tomas Soucek, Flynn Downes and Manuel Lanzini all ostensibly ahead of him in the midfield pecking order, game time has generally proved hard to come by.
After his latest appearance, Moyes said Coventry had offers to leave in the summer but the Hammers are happy to keep him around and suggested he could follow a similar career trajectory to a current Ireland international and former West Ham midfielder.
“Conor is a good player and it has been difficult to get him some minutes,” Moyes told reporters. “We have had Flynn and with all of the competition we have got, it has been difficult.
“Conor had plenty of chances to leave but we wanted him to stay. He is such a good lad and a good trainer. He is a great competitor. He is the captain of the Republic of Ireland’s U21s.
“We had Josh Cullen, who is very similar to that, here. Went to Anderlecht and Burnley. Playing for the full [Ireland] team. Wouldn’t surprise me if Conor followed the same path. He is doing great and we like him a lot.
“He had a chance to go out in the summer, and he had a couple of good clubs [interested], but we like having him because he’s such a good boy. He’s low maintenance, trains great, great with the rest of the players. He’s a good boy to have around.”
Coventry was replaced by Rice in the 83rd minute last night but said the youngster can be happy with his overall performance.
“I thought Conor played really well tonight. I could easily have kept him on. I was a bit wary of the booking.
“I thought the referee was booking quite easily tonight and I was worried anything could slip. And it just made sense at the end of the game to put on another couple of players to see us through till the end.
“We were bringing them on Tomas and Dec tonight. In fact, if Conor had not played as well as he did, the boys would have been on earlier. Conor played that well, Lanzini played well but those boys were coming on tonight.
“I am keeping them going, keeping them in a rhythm, keeping Declan playing at the standards he has been playing at. They were always coming on tonight.”
