Pundit loves major new West Ham United player development in last 24 hours
We’re delighted to welcome former West Ham United striker Frank McAvennie as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the London Stadium…
Frank McAvennie is delighted that Lucas Paqueta is back in the West Ham United team after a short period out with injury, despite defeat to Crystal Palace.
The Brazilian returned to the side after a shoulder problem saw him miss the last four games, and he got the assist for Said Benrahma’s opening goal in the game in a good individual performance.
With the World Cup approaching in a couple of weeks, McAvennie was delighted to see him return to the side and said that Paqueta was reminiscent of legendary Brazilian midfielder Socrates with the way he plays the game.
“It’s important for him, it’s important for the team, it’s important for Brazil that he’s back,” he told West Ham Zone.
“He’s an important player for Brazil too. It took him a couple of weeks because he wasn’t ready for the Premier League. It’s different, everything is quicker. It took him a couple of weeks but he’s now showing that he deserves to be there.
“6ft, Brazilian athlete, he deserves to be in there. It took him a couple of weeks to get in the team but he’s in now and I love watching him play.
“He reminds me of big Socrates. Same big guy, legs running, scores goals, so long may it continue.”
The Hammers are sitting in 15th place in the Premier League following the defeat, but there have been some encouraging performances from the summer signings.
David Moyes will need to use the World Cup break to re-focus the squad and adjust his tactics to get the best out of the team, because it simply isn’t working right now to get the results needed.