When the transfer window closed in late August, one loan transfer went largely unnoticed, that being ex Hammer Sebastian Haller who joined newly promoted Leganes in the Spanish La Liga from Borussia Dortmund.
The Spanish minnows who have a ground capacity of just over 12,000, won the Segunda Division last season to secure a place in the top league.
Haller had a prolific time at Ajax who he joined from West Ham in 2021, scoring 32 goals in 50 appearances. This caught the attention of Borussia Dortmund who shelled out an €31m, rising to €34.5M to secure the services of the Ivory Coast international, on a contract until 30 June 2026.
Sadly not long after joining the player was diagnosed with malignant testicular cancer and underwent four cycles of chemotherapy.
In January 2023, Haller played his first match in eight months, making a substitute appearance for the last three minutes. He then featured in a friendly where he scored a hatrick within eight minutes in a 6-0 win versus Basel.
Sadly he never recaptured his form, and missed a crucial penalty in the final game of the Bundesliga 2022-23 season, where a 2-2 draw meant Dortmund missed out on a league title by goal difference.
Last season an ankle injury kept him side-lined for much of the season, in which he only scored three goals. Though he did appear for his national team, and it was his winning goal that clinched the Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast’s 2-1 win over Nigeria.
His time may have been brief at West Ham, yet he still scored ten goals for West Ham, largely not fitting into the system that we employed. David Moyes sold him at a loss of £25m, and he went onto break records in the Eredivise.
He said looking back on his time at West Ham “I was brought in by Manuel Pellegrini and then David Moyes came and we got in a situation where we were like trapped together. I was playing in a system that I didn’t really enjoy. Moyes preferred Michail Antonio up front and I’m super happy that he’s doing well. I had a good time there with him but I was also super mad at the situation with the way we were playing, the way I was playing, the way I was feeling. Sometimes a style of play doesn’t suit a player and I wasn’t the striker he needed, and I also wasn’t his signing”.
Leganes are currently 16th in La Liga, with one win and four draws and 3 losses. Haller has featured in four of those matches and is yet to register a goal.
Now aged 30, I wish him all the best for the remainder of his career having overcome a life changing experience. Upon his return to football in 2023 he stated that he hoped to inspire cancer patients all over the world and to raise the awareness of testicular cancer.
Haller was never Premier league material, just not good enough! That’s the cold hard fact of the matter! ⚒️
First player to score in 7 consecutive Champions League matches after leaving West Ham, hardly not good enough.
Thank you Matt. Great guy Haller. Some fantastic goals. With adequate support -say by Fornals – it might have been a different story. With Jovic and Rebic, Haller had a great season at Frankfurt before his arrival at West Ham.
Great article mate!
Thanks for your article Matt it’s really good to a solid ,accurate picture for a change I agree entirely with HAMEROO.
Thanks, Matt Kemp, for that article. It’s good to learn how some ex Hammers are doing. Sebastian Haller was obviously a good player but for Moyesball he was rather a square peg in a round hole. Not Seb’s fault, just one of those things. He certainly showed what he could do when he escaped from West Ham. Good luck to him!