Joao Mario has given himself a chance of becoming a Hammers player but there’s a long way to go.
He scored a great goal and produced a fine all round performance after failing to show real form in his previous run outs for the club.
But in the absence of Manu Lanzini (pictured right) he was called up by David Moyes against what turned out to be a very very poor Southampton team.
So whilst it was great to see him hit his stride we have to be careful not to go OTT given that Saints are not only looking certs for the drop but likely to struggle with Championship based on yesterday’s performance.
It will be very interesting to see where Mario is used from here and given that it’s Chelsea up next – and a more defensive approach required – whether he will get the nod over him.
If it’s a straight choice between the two then David Moyes choice will clearly give us some interesting thoughts on his mindset.
Judgement needs to be reserved at this stage but with Mario already saying he is unlikely to be returning to Inter-Milan although the Hammers will not be interested in signing him at the reported fee of around £25 million.
It looks like Mario has just got up to speed with the rigors of playing in the premier league and is coming good at just the right time given the lack of quality players we have around him, providing we stay up he’s definitely worth a punt but only at the right price – but as we all know you don’t get too much for under 20mil these days ….for me he’s definitely showing his desire …. it’s a no brainer…for the right price …buy him …
To me it was always going to be a long drawn out trial, with the jury being out for some time.
No decision will be made until the last game, so he has time to show up well in seberal games against strong teams.
The price is also going to come into , considering our small budget, but it’s wait and see time.
we simply cannot play this fella in the same team as lanzini (at least not starting).
he is also certainly not a right winger, as we’ve played him a few times this season.
him and lanzini in the same team might click up front, but the important thing is how much it loses you in the midfield. neither helps out enough and it leaves us with only 2 in there (noble and kouyate) covering the entire width of the pitch, up and down. fernandes added into the middle yesterday and mario without lanzini meant we were balanced yesterday and boy did it show.
Would be stupid not to buy hi!m he I’s a quality player and he will get better ..
He is a highly rated player for a reason. I like to think now he is adjusting to premier league. getting to know his team mates and growing in confidence he can only get better. He was brilliant all game against southampton, a goal and an assist. I know one swallow does not a summer make but i sense this boy will come good in time and Now would be a very good time to negotiate a deal to buy him.
I think 25mil is a good price for a player of his calibre. He is technically very skillful so he doesn’t need to worry about that side of his game but he’s had time now to settle in to the prem and i’m predicting that he will get on better now with the team as long as Moyes can keep it balanced.
I’ve seen it mentioned on various posts about the team being balanced and i agree for probably very few games this season we have been balanced but with all the injuries taking a toll, Moyes has just been trying to shoe horn in our best and uninjured players in to a system that has & hasn’t worked in games.
Mario brings calmness and quality to the middle of the park more so than Lanzini and to that end, if Moyes wants to play both then he needs to shift Lanzini out to the left where he can cut in or preferably up front with marko. They seem to have clicked when we got a decent run last time. That would leave the left side for Arthur who had an absolutely tremendous game against Saints.
With Mario behind Lanzini and Marko, Arthur providing from the left, Antonio providing from the right, I sense a lot of goals there and a good balance.
So in a nutshell… YES i would definitely buy Mario for anything between 25 – 30mil.