West Ham Look to have made an excellent decision in the transfer window by not getting their options and obligations the wrong way round.
Of the two players on loan at the London Stadium from French clubs, only one currently seems worth retaining.
Jean-Clair Todibo is on a rental deal with the Hammers, but this loan reportedly becomes a permanent arrangement if the defender reaches a certain, albeit unknown, number of first-team appearances and the Hammers avoid the drop. While specifics remain unclear, Fabrizio Romano reported last month that Todibo is a West Ham player in all but name, with the £35 million permanent deal expected to go through without issue.
Carlos Soler, on the other hand, is only an option to buy, meaning the Hammers aren’t obliged to make the Spanish midfielder a permanent fixture—thankfully!
The PSG loanee has had an underwhelming start in London, leaving many of us still uncertain about his true playing style. Initially, I thought the former Valencia star might act as understudy to Lucas Paquetá, and that may yet be the case.
However, from what I’ve seen so far, Soler seems a bit hot-headed and cautious, showing little inclination to challenge opposition defences with flashes of creativity.
In Sunday’s match against Manchester United, Soler was oddly positioned on the left wing—as I call it “the graveyard shift”—where he was, frankly, invisible. Statistics say he made ten passes during the game, but I struggle to recall even three.
Perhaps he was wearing camouflage, as his chameleon-like performance baffled me. According to the number crunchers, Soler completed zero dribbles—not exactly shocking, but his second-half replacement, Summerville, highlighted just how ineffective the PSG loanee had been.
Soler looks on whilst Michail Antonio gets stuck in for West Ham
Soler’s option to buy stands at £27 million, and whoever negotiated that arrangement instead of an obligation to buy has saved West Ham a considerable sum. Of course, with more than two-thirds of the season left, he might still show us what he’s made of. But as things stand, it’s hard to imagine him sticking around East London for much longer.
I know it’s all good to be getting clicks and interactions Gonzo, but you’re either a troll or you’ve got absolutely no clue about football.
Please stop with the click bait titles and the rage bait content. It’s truly embarrassing
Soler looks a good player on the basis of the few opportunities he’s had. Done nothing outrageously good or bad at the moment, but tidy. A lot seems to baffle you nowadays; best have a chat with matron!
Solver hasn’t pulled up any trees yet agreed but let’s judge him at the end of the season. He is a good player but may need time to adjust. Regarding Westham fan 32 comment on Lopetegui I agree with some of his opinions like the tactics are questionable but again let’s give him time to get it right
Soler looks a tidy player. Hard to judge him finitely on the circumstance so far this season.
I thought Soler was a one season ‘fill in’ only, on the basis his salary being about €250k a week and we wouldn’t get anywhere near that.
I don’t blame Soler or any of our players for looking poor under Lopetegui, we should sack him, he is indeed the Spanish Moyes even more Moyes’ie than Moyes, he has one way of playing and when that fails he hasn’t got a switch up. He is tactically limited, the reason Summerville always looks good when he comes on is because he disregards the system that doesn’t work and plays like a winger should, the others are trying to play the Lopetegui way. Lopetegui could tell all those players to play with freedom, play a 442 with defenders in defensive positions, if the full back does overlap the winger or another covers their position. What the team need coaching on is how to press effectively, if it was down to me I would already be aware that Lopetegui’s system is not suited to those players, he wasn’t Steidten’s choice, so go with a manager that will use those brilliant players that we have to their potential. Either get Frank in if you want a conservative coach, Terzic if he will come or Potter who would be my choice and likely get us instant results playing great football that excites the crowd !!!
He seems very slow. It’s hard to believe he’s played top level football.
I’m not sure that Soler has been played in position yet but the clear obvious fact is that he’s hardly been played at all. On his salary, that’s a problem in the first place.
Possibly Soler isn’t up to Premier League standards but based on chances and maybe not in his preferred position when an opportunity arises, who would know?
While Summerville is not getting selected to start is hard to understand, he always looks at least decent and generally better than decent. He is however being played as a left winger when he does come on, he’ll be loving that (there’s always somebody worse off).
Players playing in their strongest position, you just can’t beat it.
I’m so glad the Bowen up top tom foolery has stopped and hopefully ended.
I can almost hear Lopetegui saying, “Okay guys, who’d like a go in goal?”
Don’t think he has played that much so weird as ever by West ham but he does look slow and when you look at how slow Alvarez, Rodriguez etc… look, we can’t have another slow player on the books.
Our club is messed up from top to bottom.
Alvarez is not as slow as people think. he’s no Speedy Gonzalez but there’s some selective memory going on with our fans, i think