David Moyes may well have sanctioned a bizarre contract decision at West Ham United with rarely-seen Ben Johnson offered a new deal to remain at the club.

Reliable Hammers journalists Claret & Hugh, share (8 November) that the club are ready to offer the young defender a new contract of around PS35k-a-week to stay at London Stadium.

Johnson and his agents have been reported to have made demands of around PS60,000-a-week which West Ham are unwilling to match given his "fringe" status at the club.

It's believed that West Ham would be willing to offer PS35k-a-week plus PS25k for each match appearance which seems fair for a player who won't be playing every week and hasn't performed to his best at the club for 18 months.

This news comes as a surprise new twist in Johnson's future at the clubs after reports suggested he could be made available for exit in the January transfer window (Claret and Hugh, 18 October).

This latest development regarding Johnson all seems a bit bizarre given his limited minutes at the London Stadium.

It seems incredibly strange that West Ham United and Moyes would be willing to hand him a new deal given he's only made just a handful of starts in an Irons shirt all calendar year.

Certainly, Johnson's lofty contract demands are incredibly baffling too given he's only started one game for the club all season and is an unfortunate afterthought. Why not further your career elsewhere rather than waste it at a club where you're pretty much forgotten?

It remains to be seen whether the young defender would be willing to part with such a PS35k-a-week figure and may well look elsewhere to see if any club can match those lofty demands he and his agents have made, but even that looks incredibly unlikely.

Fellow Premier League club Everton and Championship side Southampton are willing negotiators but whether they'd be willing to offer such sums for a player who's barely featured all year remains uncertain.

It is always best to move someone on who has been rotting on the bench and on the fringes, literally giving you no benefits on the pitch rather than collecting a wage every week.

Handing Johnson a new deal makes no sense when the money could be better spent searching for an upgrade in the market.

At the age of 23, Johnson needs to be playing regularly to get his career back on track and it's why a January exit will be the best solution for all parties. Surely Moyes and David Sullivan know that too.

In other West Ham news, the Irons have already moved to secure a new midfield transfer.

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Ben Johnson makes contract demands in new twist at West Ham United, PS35,000-a-week deal on the table