Photo by Rob Newell - CameraSport via Getty Images

News

HomeNewsEnglish Premier LeagueWest Ham United

West Ham star Pablo Fornals must step up as previous target joins new club

Tom Procter

Thu 30 January 2020 17:45, UK

West Ham United star Pablo Fornals has to prove the club were right not to make a move for winger Suso this January.

on an 18-month loan deal, with the option-to-buy for €25 million/£21 million ().

His move was facilitated after he had made an underwhelming start to the 2019/20 season – in 17 appearances he contributed just one goal and two assists.

That is an unusually poor return from the 26-year-old, who had been one of Milan’s best performers following their squad overhaul in the summer of 2017.

Back in December, West Ham were ready to battle it out with Wolverhampton Wanderers for the Spaniard.

An official bid never arrived though.

Arguably, there is now some emphasis on Fornals to step up and prove the club were correct not to go in for Suso.

TBR’s view – Fornals must prove worth

Despite his poor showing this term, Suso is still a fine player and has proven himself to be a real creative spark over the past couple of years.

For Milan he has 24 goals and 31 assists in 154 appearances, and the £21 million option-to-buy clause could be extremely good value for Sevilla come the summer.

There’s a chance he could make West Ham regret not moving for him, so it will be on Suso’s compatriot Fornals to step up.

It’s been a fairly underwhelming start to life at the London Stadium for the £24 million signing from Villarreal ().

He has a rather lukewarm return of three goals and three assists and , the star has an uninspiring pass completion rate of 80% so far against .

Despite Suso’s lack of assists he’s still averaged 2.6 key passes per 90 in the league, compared to just 0.6 from Fornals.

West Ham may have been put off by Suso’s struggles, but it’ll be really important for Fornals to raise his game and show there was never any need for the Irons to target him.