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Emerson Palmieri says West Ham star Said Benrahma is the ‘hardest player to defend against’
West Ham United defender Emerson Palmieri has claimed that Said Benrahma is the hardest player to defend against in training.
The Brazil-born Italy international, who won the Champions League with Chelsea back in 2021, joined the Hammers in August this year. He has trained with and played against some of the best players in the country, and Benrahma seems to have caught his eye.
Emerson Palmieri says West Ham star Said Benrahma is the ‘hardest player to defend against’
Emerson held a Q&A session on his account yesterday.
The defender has only started three games in the Premier League for the Hammers since he joined them, but he has been a regular in the Europa Conference League, having played every single minute of every group stage game so far.
A day after helping the Irons beat Silkeborg at the London Stadium, Emerson asked his followers for a few questions to answer on Twitter.
One West Ham fan was curious to know which Hammer is the ‘hardest player to defend against in training’. Our minds immediately went to Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Gianluca Scamacca, but Emerson had someone else in mind.
“Again a tough one as there’s so many! But I’d say Said Benrahma,” he replied.
That surprised us for a moment, but Benrahma is a very tricky customer to deal with, especially for a full-back, and it makes sense why Emerson would pick him over some of the others.
David Moyes criticised Said Benrahma’s English this week
It’s never easy for foreign players to speak fluent English. However, you’d expect someone who has been in the UK for over four years to learn the language – just so that communication with his teammates and manager doesn’t become a problem.
Benrahma’s English hasn’t impressed Moyes at all. The West Ham boss criticised the Algerian’s English on Wednesday before praising some of his side’s newer players for learning the language much more quickly.
He said two days before Emerson’s Q&A session, as quoted by : “Look I went to Spain and tried to take Spanish lessons and I couldn’t speak Spanish in a year. I think if I’d got another year I might have got better – well I would have definitely been speaking it if I’d got another year at it.
“So I’m not one maybe to comment on them because I do it, but the fact of the matter is we do (want them to speak English).
“Said (Benrahma)’s English, for the amount of time he’s been here, has not been great. But I’ve got to say Nayef (Aguerd) brilliant English, Gianluca (Scamacca) brilliant English, Emerson (Palmieri) fantastic English, strangely enough (Lucas) Paqueta can’t speak it but I think he understands it.”
