Pablo Fornals is surely a goner in January after another woeful West Ham United display v Olympiacos
David Moyes has surely had enough of West Ham United star Pablo Fornals after yet another dreadful display in Europe in their 2-1 defeat to Olympiacos on Thursday 26 October.
The Hammers slipped to their first Europa League defeat this season and their second consecutive loss in all competitions as they were overpowered by the Greek giants at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium.
David Moyes defended his team selection after West Ham’s unbeaten European record was reduced to ruins in Athens, with the likes of Angelo Ogbonna, Said Benrahma and Fornals all given rare starts.
However, Moyes’ decision certainly backfired dramatically with all three players failing to make the most of their opportunities.
While Ogbonna may well be at fault for the second Olympiacos goal, the West Ham United manager may well be pondering whether the Olympiacos defeat was the last straw for the exit-linked Fornals.
Spanish news outlet El Sevillista reported on 26 September, that Champions League club Sevilla are hopeful West Ham will accept a “negligible” offer for the Spanish international in order to “get some profitability” and avoid losing him on a free transfer.
The report also wrote that Sevilla are already advancing in their plans for the January market and have placed Fornals at the top of their target list as they look to bolster the squad to qualify for Europe.
The 27-year-old over the past year, has always delivered for the club whenever they need him most but with time running out on his career in East London, he’s certainly performing like a player who has somewhat given up.
Against Freiburg on 5 October, the Spaniard again failed to deliver and proved why Moyes has been hesitant to start him regularly this season.
He barely touched the ball in his 77 minutes on the pitch with just 37 touches, failed to register a single key pass, won just two of his duels, lost possession 11 times and completed just one of his three dribbles [SofaScore] in another disastrous showing.
It was the same theme over in Greece, with Fornals rarely seen yet again.
As per SofaScore, he only touched the ball 34 times in his 60-odd minutes on the pitch, failed to register a single key pass again, completed just 72% of his passes, failed to register a single cross, won only one of his ground duels and failed with 100% of his aerial duels and lost possession of the ball nine times.
It’s been reported that Fornals has rejected the chance of a new deal at the London Stadium (Sean Whetstone, 14 September) and the Spaniard certainly played like a man who knows he won’t be on the club’s books for long.
It certainly won’t be a surprise to see him forced out of the London Stadium by Moyes in January. He certainly looks to have checked out with a Sevilla move on the horizon.
In other West Ham news, Edson Alvarez revealed who convinced him to make the move to the London Stadium.