“Cruel twist of fate” that impacts Crysencio Summerville’s World Cup dream | West Ham News

West Ham United’s fully fit squad at this stage of the season is a surprising and hugely welcome bonus as the club battles relegation.

Compared with last year’s attacking crisis brought on by issues surrounding Michail Antonio, Niclas Fullkrug and Crysencio Summerville at the same stage of the season, the Hammers head into the crucial last four Premier league games without the dramas that shaped the 2024/5 run in.

And that, at the end of 38 games, could be the deciding factor, compared with rivals Spurs’ well documented injury issues that see no less than ten Tottenham first team players out long term.

For one West Ham player in particular, there’s an additional benefit from the dreadful luck encountered by Tottenham: A Summer World Cup squad place up for grabs.

Fourfourtwo.com details the ‘injury boost’ from which Crysencio Summerville is likely to be the beneficiary:

“A crucial component of West Ham’s attack has received a timely World Cup injury boost ahead of the relegation run-in…

“In a cruel twist of fate, Crysencio Summerville could find himself called up to the Netherlands World Cup 2026 squad – with Ronald Koeman’s March selection showing a now vacant place for him.

That is due to West Ham’s direct relegation run-in rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, suffering a season-ending injury to Dutch international Xavi Simons.”

Summerville, who missed out on a call-up to the Netherlands squad in the March friendlies thanks to his own calf injury, has been coming back to full fitness and produced a display against Everton worthy of a call up in any case.

The injury to Simons makes his an even more compelling call-up for the Dutch squad, even without having featured at senior level before.

As the report concludes:

“If Summerville didn’t already have enough incentive to etch his name into West Ham history by keeping the Hammers up, it’s almost certain he will now with the prospect of playing World Cup football at his doorstep, knowing Ronald Koeman will be closely watching.”