The scene at The London Stadium is changing. Manuel Pellegrini is doing the right things with his trusty transfer guru, Director of Football Mario Husillos, and the Irons look to be moving in the right direction, and should they bring in Gary Medel as a Pedro Obiang replacement, as claimed could happen by ExWHUemployee on The West Ham Way podcast, it would be another superb deal.
The news of Obiang’s potential department will come as a surprise to very few people. The Spanish-born midfielder has hardly been the first name on Pellegrini’s teamsheet over the last 12 months, and with Jack Wilshere looking to stay injury-free this season, it knocks him one place further down the pecking order.
It’s been touted by ExWHUemployee that the 27-year-old will be allowed to leave the club this summer as Sassuolo are believed to have lodged a bid of around £10m, but what will excite the Hammers is the news that Gary Medel, the former Cardiff City and Inter Milan midfielder, could replace him.
Medel is more than competent enough to step into West Ham’s midfield, and despite being 31-years-old he’s still going strong having recently played his part in Chile’s Copa America campaign after helping Besiktas qualify for the Europa League with a 3rd place finish in the Turkish Super Lig.
No potential fee or wages have been mentioned in regards to a deal for the 31-year-old, but given how he compares to Obiang it looks like this would be a very smart move for a player who has got a taste of Premier League action before.
Using WhoScored’s player comparison tool, Medel outdoes Obiang in plenty of areas looking at their stats from the 2018/19 season. Defensively the Chilean averages more tackles, blocks and clearances than the West Ham man, whilst in possession, he also averages over 30 more passes than Obiang per game at a higher success rate.
Almost every stat that you can use to judge a holding midfielder sees Medel outdo Obiang and if the money from the Spaniard is to be reinvested, then Pellegrini and Husillos should be looking no further than Besiktas’ Chilean midfield man.
