While West Ham United successfully shipped out Emerson Palmieri, Edson Alvarez, Nayef Aguerd and Maxwel Cornet in the final few days of the transfer window, Andy Irving remains at Graham Potter’s disposal.
Now, this is a somewhat difficult situation to work out.
While Potter clearly prefers Ollie Scarles to Emerson, while Nayef Aguerd forced through a move to Marseille after refusing to play against Nottingham Forest, and while Edson Alvarez simply lacked the pace required in the Premier League, strong opinions on the pros and cons of Andy Irving are much harder to come by.
Understandably so, in truth.
The Scotland international has played only 186 minutes of Premier League football since the start of last season.
And while Irving made a positive impression in pre-season, particularly when finding the net against Grasshopper Zurich in Switzerland, the 25-year-old left-footer simply hasn’t featured prominently enough for the West Ham United faithful to gauge how good he really is.
Irving, of course, will be hoping to change that.
Especially after, per The Athletic, he turned down potential moves to Wrexham and Leicester City in order to stay and fight for his place.
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Andy Irving stays at West Ham United despite Wrexham and Leicester City interest
Hammers News can confirm that West Ham rejected a bid from Celtic worth £1.75 million in August. Irving, a graduate of the Heart of Midlothian academy, was valued in the region of £3.5 million.
Ambitious Championship newcomers Wrexham entered the fray a little later in the month, while recently-relegated Leicester City were also ready to take a punt on a midfielder who remains something of an unknown having spent much of his career in Austria and the German lower divisions.
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The Athletic, however, say that Irving turned his nose up at Wrexham and Leicester. He had little interest in dropping down to the Championship, despite both Wrexham and Marti Cifuentes’ Foxes being amongst the more high-profile clubs in the competition.
Wrexham’s net spend this summer dwarfed that of Valencia, Sevilla, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and even Barcelona, per BBC Sport. Leicester, meanwhile, are pursuing an immediate return to the Premier League.
Irving, then, is clearly backing himself to become an established Premier League performer when, or more appropriately ‘if’, the chance arrives at the London Stadium.
Scotland international wanted more game time under Graham Potter this season
By his own admission, Andy Irving was frustrated at West Ham during the second half of last season. After making his first league start in February, the former Austria Klagenfurt ace would play only one more minute until the end of the campaign.
Coming off the bench against Sunderland and Nottingham Forest, Irving has already made more appearances this term than he did in the final three months of the last one.
“The last two, three months haven’t been the easiest period,” Irving told the official West Ham website in June.
“I think for me, when I first came [into the first-team set-up] last summer, it was quite a new experience for me being part of this at West Ham. There have been lots of brilliant experiences throughout the season.
“I feel I’ve done well. I would have liked to have played more, of course, but that’s what everyone pushes for. And once you play your first game, you then want to kick on and play as many as you possibly can.
“I’ve had to be patient at times, but on a personal note, I’ve really enjoyed this season.”