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Under Julen Lopetgui, West Ham is still having trouble. Over the weekend, the team only managed one point against Brentford, drawing 1-1 at the Gtech Community Stadium.
This season, the Hammers have only averaged 44.1% possession, which is the sixth lowest in the league. This demonstrates the difficulties West Ham is experiencing implementing Lopetegui’s more possession-based strategy.
West Ham Premier League julen-lopetegui
With just six goals in their first six games, ten conceded, and just one victory—against Crystal Palace—West Ham is currently ranked 14th in the Premier League.
An infusion of attacking flair and creativity would be much-needed by the Hammers, and not too long ago, one of the best almost joined. At this point, he is even outscoring Mohamed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen.
At West Ham, Mohamed Kudus
Mohamed Kudus joined West Ham in August 2023 for a whooping £38 million from Ajax, with a five-year contract.
Mohammed Kudus, a forward for West Ham
The attacker was a force in claret and blue during his first campaign, making 45 appearances, scoring 14 goals, and dishing out six assists for his new team.
Kudus received a lot of accolades during his successful Hammers debut season. He has played in eight games this season, logged 521 minutes, and only contributed one goal (one assist), thus he hasn’t had the best start to the season.
Rumors have surfaced recently regarding an alleged altercation between Kudus and Lopetegui. The Athletic has detailed the exchange of words that transpired in the dressing room following Kudus’ substitution last weekend.
If West Ham were to dominate the league, they would definitely need the Ghanaian to recover his shooting form. However, scout Jacek Kulig said that signing a specific “one man show” would have changed everything.
David Moyes was interested in signing Cole Palmer.
Cole Palmer ultimately made his £42.5 million move to Chelsea, but not before West Ham and the player had an agreement to sign him in the summer of 2023, according to the Daily Mail. According to reports, David Moyes “tried very hard” to close the deal.
The transfers that were on the verge of happening but didn’t. This piece is included in the One That Got Away series on Football FanCast.
After a fantastic season with the Blues the previous year, Transfermarkt values Palmer at an impressive £75 million.
The 22-year-old, who dominated everyone at West Ham, including that man Kudus, made 45 appearances for Chelsea across all competitions, scoring 25 goals and dishing out 15 assists. How then do the two compare as of 2024/25?
If a pass is progressive, it is one that is completed into the penalty area or gets at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal from the starting position to the next touch.
Really, it’s like night and day. Palmer is outperforming Kudus in about every category examined here; the only one where the West Ham star fares better is progressive carries, which is to be expected given that his playstyle is more focused on using his speed and power and carrying the ball.
Ham-Palmer-Kudus-West-Chelsea-stats
However, as his goal and assist statistics demonstrate, the England international is more accurate with his movements and actions, making crucial passes, creating for himself and others, and executing finishing actions with high efficiency.
Palmer just set a Premier League record by scoring an absurd four goals in the first half of a match, which has never been done in the league’s history.
We are talking about a player of this caliber, and West Ham came extremely close to having him. Ultimately, they signed Kudus, who is a great player and will definitely find his footing this season, but just think of what would have happened if they had signed Palmer instead.