West Ham have extended the contract of young defender Ben Johnson until 2024 after being unable to agree a new deal with the academy graduate.
The club held the option to extend the full-backs current deal beyond its expiry this summer but had been in discussions with Johnson over a new long-term deal.
With no agreement between the two parties at this current time, West Ham have elected to take up their option and tie Johnson down until at least 2024, according to reports in the Evening Standard, with the defender set for a wage rise as part of the deal.
Johnson has become a firmly established member of the West Ham first-team squad since breaking through and making his senior debut in 2019.
The defender's breakthrough campaign came last season with five Premier League starts and 20 first-team appearances in total.
This season Johnson has provided stiff competition for Vladimir Coufal at right-back and cover for Aaron Cresswell on the left flank. Johnson has made ten league starts and 17 across all competitions this season, even keeping Coufal out of the team once the Czech international returned from injury in October.
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Johnson could be set for another run in the starting XI after coming on at the break against Newcastle United.
Coufal missed the game through a hernia issue and was in any case not in the best of form and Ryan Fredericks was the man to make way for Johnson at half-time during the 1-1 draw.
Fredericks had struggled in the opening 45 minutes and Johnson looked far more comfortable than the experienced defender and could well have done enough to usurp him in the pecking order.
