David Moyes explains why he allowed Pierre Ekwah to join Sunderland

David Moyes has responded to criticism from West Ham fans for his decision to allow Pierre Ekwah to leave for Sunderland.

New Sunderland midfielder Pierre Ekwah had ‘outgrown’ under-21 football, according to former Sunderland manager David Moyes.

Ekwah joined Sunderland last week on an initial free transfer, although the Hammers will get a good percentage of any future transfer fee.

He made an impressive debut off the bench in the Black Cats’ 1-1 draw against Premier League side Fulham, and the early signs are good that he will do well on Wearside.

Moyes received criticism from West Ham fans for letting Ekwah leave, just as he did when he also sanctioned a similar move for Aji Alese last summer.

He, though, says some players simply get caught in the gulf between a Premier League youth system and first-team.

“Some of the young players outgrow the U21s,” Moyes told football.london. “Pierre probably comes into that category. He’s had a year-and-a-half, two years, he’s not really featured with us.

“You look at the standard of midfield players, Tomas [Soucek], Declan [Rice], now [Lucas] Paqueta, it’s really difficult to break through that. We bring Flynn [Downes] in as well, out of the Championship.

“The biggest thing I feel as a manager is you want all your young players to get a career, whether it’s 15 years in the lower leagues, I really hope that’s what they do if they are not quite able to be at the top.

“If we think we can get people out on loan who can come back and be first-team players then we will do that as well.

“If boys who have maybe played ten or 15 games in U21s get a chance to go into the big leagues we wouldn’t really stand in their way if we think it’s right.”

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