Following the closure of the transfer window, and with a bigger squad to choose from, one of our summer signings, Luis Guilherme has yet to make a first team appearance. With a hefty price tag on his shoulders, it will be interesting to see if the young Brazilian will get much needed game time.
He is considered one of the most exciting prospects in Brazil, and was previously linked to Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, before West Ham secured his signature on a five year contract. His exit clause was rumoured to be £30m, so the Hammers were pleased that their £25.5m offer was accepted.
The young prospect demonstrated his versatility playing right-wing, left-wing and as a second striker for his former club, Palmeiras, and made over 33 first team appearances across the Brazilian Serie A and the Copa Libertadores.
His favoured position is right-wing where he can cut inside, yet has also performed well on the left, and has an abundance of pace. Guilherme clocked a top speed of 36.4km/h in the 2022 Copa do Brasil Sub 17 final.
Luis Guilherme was chased by West Ham’s Tim Steidten
With only one goal at senior level, he has scope to improve at West Ham, though he bagged three goals in four appearances for Brazil U-17s in 2022.
Tim Steidten pulled off quite a coup by securing this transfer, and flew out to Brazil and presented the project both to the player and his family. Guilherme stated that he was excited and enthusiastic about joining. Upon arriving in England, he said the infrastructure was great and recognised the Premier League as being the best league in the world.
He clearly is ambitious and commented, “Dreaming is believing, now its coming true” in his first interview two months ago.
This is a player that will develop over time, yet there will be comparisons to Estevao Willan who joins Chelsea next summer, and Endrick who signed a six year contract with Real Madrid, and has already played three games for their first team, notching one goal.
Patience will be the name of the game, yet whether Under-21’s football is the right place for the winger to develop is questionable.
He is a long way off PL standard, should have left him in Brazil for another season to mature more, could be good but short of injuries I don’t see how gets into the first team.
Does J-Lo know what his first team lineup looks like .. because we know have a good group of players and the honeymoon will be over soon if the results dont start coming soon
COYI ⚒️⚒️⚒️