Konstantinos Mavropanos stakes claim for regular Premier League starts at West Ham United
New West Ham arrival Konstantinos Mavropanos is staking a claim for more first-team involvement in the Premier League after a very impressive display in the Carabao Cup clash against Lincoln City on 27 September.
The defender put in a brilliant display in the League Cup fixture, off the back of another impressive show in the Europa League game against Backa Topola, and could now push Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd for their starting places.
Mavropanos arrived in the late days of the summer transfer window for a fee of around £17.3million [Transfermarkt] and is beginning to show exactly why the Hammers spent that kind of money on securing his services.
While it has to be taken into consideration that the level of opposition was lower than he will face in the Premier League, the Greek international showed he has a bit of everything you could want from a defender at the highest level.
He won 100% of his duels, both aerially and on the ground, and completed five clearances to ease any pressure the back line was coming under, showing some brilliant defensive nouse and awareness to be able to deal with everything thrown at him with relative ease [Sofascore].
It was not only his defensive stats that stood out though. Mavropanos completed 108 passes of an attempted 119, an accuracy of 91%, as he showed his confidence with the ball at his feet to help the Hammers build from the back.
His 15 attempted long balls, with ten finding their man, displayed a range of passing that can be invaluable when easing pressure and getting the ball into the attacking phase quickly.
Those long passes could become an important part of David Moyes’ tactical plan, with his current counter-attacking style set to benefit greatly from the ability to switch the play and get the ball wide for the countering wingers to run on to.
It was not just his display against Lincoln that stood out. Against Backa Topola in the Hammers’ opening Europa League clash, he showed a 92% passing accuracy from 93 attempted, completed ten of 13 long balls, and even posed a threat from corners with two headers both barely missing the goal [Sofascore].
His performances have been outstanding when given the chance, and it only seems like a matter of time until he is called upon to play a role in the first team.
In other West Ham news, one star could be set to sign a new deal.