West Ham United may look to sell Maxwel Cornet in January transfer window after shocker v Lincoln City, David Moyes must take action
Maxwel Cornet was a rare starter for West Ham United as they narrowly managed to eke out a 1-0 victory against Lincoln City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday, 27 September.
The Hammers were incredibly fortunate against the League One side breaking the deadlock in the 70th minute when Tomas Soucek made a late run into the box to get on the end of Said Benrahma’s corner.
Lincoln were made to rue the numerous chances they squandered in the first half – and Alex Mitchell had a close-range effort ruled out for offside after West Ham failed to deal with a long throw.
West Ham made 10 changes to the side that lost 3-1 to Liverpool at the weekend – with Soucek the only player to retain his place – and one player whom Moyes will not have been impressed by was Ivorian international Cornet.
The 27-year-old former Burnley man, who appeared to be on his way out in the summer transfer window, stayed put as a move to Everton fell through.
It would be fair to say that Cornet hasn’t had the best time at West Ham since joining the club from Burnley last summer.
He arrived in East London on the back of an impressive season in the Premier League with the Clarets, where scored nine goals and registered two assists in 28 appearances despite his side being relegated.
But following a few outings off the bench for the Irons, he was struck down with an injury that kept him out all the way up until March to make it a difficult start for him in claret and blue.
Over the course of the last campaign, he failed to register a single top-flight goal or assist in his 14 games, but he laid on five assists in Europe for the Hammers.
That hasn’t been enough to tempt Moyes into handing him more minutes this season, though, and Cornet certainly proved as much in a lacklustre showing against League One opposition, simply failing to take his chance.
According to Sofascore, Cornet lost possession of the ball on eight separate occasions during the game, failed to register a single key pass a single shot, completed just one of his crosses at a rate of 33% and barely touched the ball with just 29 touches, completing 85% of his passes.
The Ivorian also was nowhere to be seen going towards his goal, winning just one of his ground duels.
With the Hammers simply not having enough out-an-out wingers other than Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen, the game against Lincoln will have been Cornet’s chance to stake a claim, he simply failed on that front.
There’s now a good chance that once the window reopens in January, West Ham United will look to cash in on his services.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers’ next Premier League opponents have reportedly made a decision over the future of their manager.