When Ben Johnson came off the bench to play out of position in central midfield at Sheffield United earlier this month, it provided clear evidence of one of West Ham’s major January needs.
Johnson - or Benedine Zidane as some dubbed the 24-year-old after the cameo - acquitted himself surprisingly well on that occasion, but it was always bound to be a temporary solution and within days Kalvin Phillips’s loan arrival from Manchester City was confirmed.
