Yarmolenko game time at West Ham worries int’l manager
The manager of the Ukraine national team, Oleksandr Petrakov, has voiced his concern over the lack of playing time Andriy Yarmolenko is getting at West Ham.
The 32-year-old is one of the leading stars of the Ukrainian national setup but he has been resigned to a place warming the Hammers bench this season.
Jarrod Bowen, Said Benrahma and even new signing Nikola Vlasic are all ahead of Yarmolenko in the pecking order at the London Stadium at the moment and there looks to be little change on the way.
“We see that Andriy Yarmolenko does not play,” Petrakov said to the Ukrainian media outlet UA Tribuna before then going on to mention other players who haven’t played much.
“Of course, there are problems with this. But I hope that during this month the situation in this matter will improve. We are worried about them, the whole country is worried about them.”
Pastures new required
Yarmolenko doesn’t have too long left in his footballing career being 32 years of age already so he can’t afford to just sit on the bench week after week.
It may be too late for a January move right now with David Moyes probably reluctant to let him go without an adequate replacement lined up.
But for his career, he needs to move on from the London Stadium now and find a new lease of life elsewhere.
It isn’t doing him, his national side, or even West Ham any good having someone as talented as him rotting on the subs bench.
The Irons have one of the best academies in the country which will surely have a youngster good enough to take that place on the bench and occasionally make an impact late on in games.
Given the wages Yarmolenko is likely to be on, it would be a far better spend of resources developing one of their own rather than indulging this winger who is really past his best.
In other West Ham news, this Hammers star is in line for a big pay rise with contract talks underway.