West Ham staff frustrated at Nuno as Burnley target second United player

Confidence levels in Nuno Espirito Santo are fading rapidly around West Ham.

With just three wins in 21 Premier League games and one league victory since 8 November, West Ham boss Nuno is under major pressure at the London Stadium.

Despite that, David Sullivan has backed Nuno both in the transfer market and in his job, and in turn has gone against the wishes of some figures within West Ham.

Strikers Taty Castellanos and Pablo were brought in for over £47million combined, whilst Chelsea’s Filip Jorgensen is also a West Ham target.

West Ham's done deals so far.
Credit: Imago

Burnley plot West Ham raid for Nuno Espirito Santo outcasts

It’s been a fairly embarrassing season so far for West Ham, with the Hammers desperately trying to claw their way to Premier League survival.

And with Burnley just one point behind them in 19th, the last thing West Ham would want to do is to strengthen the Clarets’ team, and by proxy, chances of leapfrogging them in the table, right?

Well, it’s understood that Burnley want to sign Callum Wilson, with the 33-year-old striker looking to find any viable escape route out of the London Stadium this month.

Not only that, writing in the print edition of The Sun on Saturday, journalist Tom Barclay has reported that the Clarets are also interested in signing West Ham midfielder James Ward-Prowse.

James Ward-Prowse's West Ham career stats
Credit: Imago/Sofascore

It’s detailed that the former England international is not in Nuno’s plans, and is often observed training alone away from the first-team squad, and now Scott Parker is considering a loan move for him.

Interestingly, it’s also claimed that there has been “internal frustration” within West Ham towards Nuno for failing to give Ward-Prowse the chance to play, despite the team’s dire situation.

James Ward-Prowse could provide moments of magic to rescue West Ham

Some players posses that technical ability that enables them to come up with moments of individual brilliance at any given time, and Ward-Prowse is one of those.

Renowned for his dead-ball ability, Ward-Prowse established himself as one of the best free-kick takers in the Premier League during his time with Southampton and his early West Ham days.

And so in a time where the Hammers need a burst of inspiration from anywhere, having a player like that in the team ready to deliver superb set-pieces and deadly free-kicks, that surely must be a card worth playing?

With the future of Lucas Paqueta firmly up in the air and the Brazilian potentially not being in the right headspace to play, and with an injury to Mateus Fernandes, Nuno should roll the dice on Ward-Prowse.

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