The season so far has been an up and down one for West Ham so far. After losing to Manchester City on the opening day 5-0 at home, the Irons put up a decent run of games, going six games unbeaten in all competitions winning four and drawing two of those.
However, since that point, it’s gone downhill. In the four games since that run, the Irons have lost three and drawn one, starting with a highly embarrassing 4-0 drubbing at the hands of League One Oxford United in the Carabao Cup followed by back-to-back losses in the league either side of the international break, Transfermarkt.
One man who has done very little to stop the rut, though, is a man who a lot of the Hammers had a lot of hope for when he signed over the summer. No, not Sebastien Haller, but the Spanish midfield man Pablo Fornals, the club’s £24m summer signing (BBC) from Villarreal.
So far for the Irons in his 11 games since signing, the 23-year-old has scored just one goal, amd that goal came in the club’s 2-0 win over League Two Newport County in the second round of the Carabao Cup. That means that the nine Premier League games he’s featured in are yet to deliver a goal or an assist.
Those stats, found on Transfermarkt, are far from convincing, and whilst the young midfielder must be given time to adjust given he’s adapting to a new culture and style of football, top-flight football in England is unforgiving and he needs to kick on sooner or later.
The jury is still out on Fornals, and he still has time to turn it around, but every game that passes will bring more and more question marks if he cannot start to show what he’s capable of in claret and blue, and he’s at serious risk of being labelled a flop, even in the early days of his time as a Hammer.
