Spotlight on the Fornals factor

By James Hirlehey

It has been a summer  of blockbuster moves, but perhaps West Ham United’s signing of Pablo Fornals from Villarreal could turn out to be the best.

The Spaniard has finally met up with his Hammers teammates after leading his national side to the U21 European Championships earlier in the summer. Expectations   are high ahead of his Premier League bow, but what could he add to this West Ham side?

Fornals’ strengths?

The 23-year-old is widely regarded as one of the most promising young players in Europe, and his capture by West Ham was a surprising turn of events.

Both Arsenal and Inter Milan were interested in his services, but the Hammers quick thinking was ultimately the factor that saw them come out on top against the European heavyweights.

Fornals is best suited at playing in the number ten position, and his eye for a pass to split the defence can create a host of chances for the forward players at West Ham. Not only that, but the Spaniard also scored two goals in La Liga last season, before adding two more in the U21 Euro’s.

However, while he has a tremendous shot on him, his best quality is his passing. He managed a pass completion rate of 81% last season in Spain’s top-flight, which is incredibly promising since he is always looking to play dangerous passes and very rarely looks for the safe option.

Last season he was an important member of the Villarreal team that managed to survive in La Liga, but he will no doubt fit into this West Ham side and could help take them to the next level. As well as passing, his speed when he has the ball will give defenders nightmares as he is more than capable of dribbling past them at speed. This will create a host of problems as defenders won’t know whether to get tight or allow him space to turn.

Weaknesses

He still has massive potential and hasn’t yet reached his pinnacle  which means there are undoubtedly weaknesses that he will need to work on with his West Ham teammates, one of which is his crossing ability. He isn’t accustomed to playing in wide positions, but his crossing will need to be something he needs to improve on for when he gets in between the central defenders and full-backs of opposing sides.

As well as this, he isn’t as strong in the air and only won 0.5 aerial duals per game in La Liga last season. That will have to improve if he is to adjust to the more physical Premier League.

Where will he fit into the West Ham team?

Throughout pre-season and last season, Manuel Pellegrini has settled on a 4-2-3-1 formation. The new signing Sebastian Haller will play as the lone striker role, and Fornals would settle  just behind him with Manuel Lanzini and Felipe Anderson.

Fornals would be an immediate starter for the Hammers and should he build up a strong relationship with Haller creating  problems for most defences in the Premier League. He will be able to be employed in a free-role where he could swap with Lanzini or Anderson in a fluid forward line which would cause opposition defenders nightmares as they won’t know who to pick up.

The forward four should should excite us and if the new signings settle in quickly, then they could compete for a top-six finish. Currently, compareyourodds.com have West Ham at 13/1 to win their first game against Manchester City, and 10/1 to finish in the top six of the Premier League.

Fornals’ position in the number ten position will also mean that he won’t have to worry about his defensive duties. The holding midfielders of Declan Rice and Jack Wilshere or Mark Noble can do most of the work in getting the ball back and feeding the ball into the Spaniard.

This would enable him the energy and space to find the right positions on the field in order to link up with his fellow attacking players. It could be the perfect balance for West Ham as they have needed a creative player in their line-up for a few seasons, and Fornals certainly adds that fresh element that they have required.

 

About Hugh5outhon1895

Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!" Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon