Having discussed Slaven Bilic’s difficult season and given him his backing, former Hammers striker John Hartson today turns his attention to a player of whom he has seen a lot – Andrew Ayew.
As a Swansea boy Harts knows the £20 million signing’s game inside out and here discusses his strengths and virtues plus how he can be of most assistance to the Irons cause.
By John Hartson
I have said before that I believe my club saw the Hammers coming when a fee of £20 million was agreed for Andre Ayew.
My personal valuation would be about half of that or just above but the Irons were desperate for a front man and in those circumstances inflated deals get done.
However, Andre Ayew is not a striker, nor is he a number 10 to play alongside Andy Carroll – neither of those roles represent what he is about.
Having watched a lot of Swansea his best position for me is clearly wide left player which is where I’ve seen him produce his most effective performances.
He is not a Mezut Ozil or a Dimitri Payet – he doesn’t have that wake up pass in behind. He is quick and has clever feet but is removed from the two I’ve mentioned.
In fairness, he’s had a big injury to get over at West Ham and has managed some goals and assists but the best of him is yet to come.
Slaven has had many injury issues and has had to mix and match a bit but if he wants the best from Andre my opinion would be to play him in that wide left role with Lanzini tucked in behind Carroll.
However, to make my point again ….£20 million was too much for the the player.
Totally agreed but that was because the board made a right cock up of their transfers first by broadcasting we were willing to pay big money for a striker then failing on all their attempts to sign anyone that was any good & then being in the embarrassing position of having to sign someone due to players being injured so they have only their selves to blame.perhaps this summer they may keep quiet & assess who they want ( or more realistically who would want to play for us ) & only announce players after they have signed.
But I am a bit worried by the choices of the manager so far everyone he has supposedly “wanted” has turned out to be not fit for the premier league
Abssolutely no chance of Gold and Sullivan keeping quiet . They love “talking the talk “but haven’t got the ability or desire to “walk the walk “. Bilic has not proved to be great judge of a player so we should not be surprised by the people he picks or the position he plays them in !
Picking a player is an art not a science. All the great managers have some shockers on their records, but I agree Bubbles that Bilic’s record at the moment does not look too good. And of course we are not always able to get our first choices.