Guido Rodriguez given worst news at West Ham United amid Julen Lopetegui struggles
Guido Rodriguez has received some of the “worst news” an Argentine player can get since his West Ham move after being left out of the national team squad, Estadio Deportivo report.
The Spanish outlet’s website highlighted on 3 October the Hammers midfielder’s standing in Lionel Scaloni’s set up has suffered since his decision not to re-sign for Real Betis in the summer, moving to the London Stadium on a free transfer.
The 30-year-old has become an “undisputed starter” under Julen Lopetegui but was withdrawn before half time in the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on 21 September as the new manager’s reign has got off to a rough start.
Estadio Deportivo did point out that Betis’ former Tottenham midfielder Giovani Lo Celso has been called up by Argentina while Rodriguez has received his bad news in the Premier League.
Tim Steidten signed Guido Rodriguez for West Ham in the summer
It’s quite clear from results that the Lopetegui era hasn’t started how anyone at West Ham would have hoped, putting the Spaniard’s job in the spotlight already.
His reluctance to bring in all of the summer signings secured by Tim Steidten has been an unwelcomely familiar frustration after David Moyes.
But Rodriguez is one who didn’t have to wait to gain the trust of his new manager, although a partnership with Edson Alvarez has failed to take off so far, while the Mexican’s own absence from the national team has caused some consternation in his home country [Alberto Bernard, 4 September].
It is a measure of how the new signings are still to get off the ground as a collective, as well as a sign that the Irons still have a foot stuck in the Moyes era as Lopetegui struggles to get things under way, that the great survivor Tomas Soucek has remained key in the midfield.
A World Cup and Copa America winner with Argentina, Rodriguez’s caps had already decreased over the past couple of years before his arrival in England but a difficult start has tipped the balance to send him out of the squad for upcoming games against Venezuela and Bolivia.
And there does appear to be some schadenfreude in Spain that the decision to depart for the Premier League hasn’t turned out as hoped yet for him.
In other West Ham news, Lopetegui has already committed a “sackable offence” at the London Stadium.
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