West Ham already have major Axel Disasi dilemma to overcome
Axel Disasi’s loan move to West Ham may not prove to be what they need.
West Ham are still one of the favourites for relegation this season, despite having spent almost £50million on bolstering their squad in the summer.
Around £2m of that was spent to bring Disasi to the London Stadium on loan from Chelsea, where he had been frozen out completely by Enzo Marseca and then Liam Rosenior.
However, that is the cause of the dilemma that West Ham will be set to encounter, and it may not be an easy one to fix.
Axel Disasi may have to wait for West Ham debut
Heading into this weekend’s set of fixtures, the Irons are six points adrift of safety, and with Leeds set to face Nottingham Forest, there is a good chance that gap will increase if the Hammers fail to win themselves.
Adama Traore, Taty Castellanos and Pablo will all almost certainly feature, but there will be some serious question marks over the availability of Disasi, not just now, but also for the foreseeable.
The Frenchman has not had first-team minutes since April last year, when he played 29 minutes as a substitute in Aston Villa’s 2-1 defeat away to Manchester City.
And in terms of minutes at all, Disasi has played just 72 of them since that clash at the Etihad.
For West Ham, there will almost certainly be doubts about his fitness, and perhaps more importantly, how sharp he will be.
West Ham have the worst defensive record in the Premier League, and they may have to wait a few weeks to see how Disasi can impact that.
Did West Ham make an error with their recruitment?
Ultimately, the answer to that question will come clear in May when the Premier League season comes to an end. If the Irons are relegated, then the answer will be yes.
However, even before that outcome is clear, it still feels as though they made a huge error by targeting attacking arrivals over defensive ones, given that they have conceded 48 goals in 24 games so far this season.
Disasi may well prove to be a game-changer for the Hammers, but it’s hard not to think that they should have brought in at least one more defensive body.
Links were certainly there, but any other deal failed to materialise for one reason or another.