Hammers defender Konstantinos Mavropanos has been nothing short of exceptional since Nuno Espírito Santo walked through the door this season.
In fact, an argument can actually be made that Dinos was one of West Ham’s better players during the failed stint of Graham Potter.
But such has been the Greek defender’s improvement this season that he’s caught the attention of a number of Bundesliga clubs, who have taken note of the fact that Mavropanos regularly looks like one of the best defenders in the Premier League.
In Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, he was back at his very best.
Whilst he might not have grabbed the headlines with one of his now trademark headers, defensively he was absolutely sublime.
Mavropanos Covered West Ham Defensive Errors Again
Within the first five minutes, he had covered a mistake from Jean-Clair Todibo, who had been out-fought by Riccardo Calafiori as Arsenal threatened down the left.
Then in the second half, following a misplaced pass by his other central defensive partner Axel Disasi, Mavropanos snuffed out what was going to be a very dangerous Arsenal counterattack.
But like everybody else, it does seem the pressure of the situation is not lost on the former VfB Stuttgart player.
And Mavropanos has admitted to watching the Tottenham games which is, quite frankly, a fate I wouldn’t wish on anyone under normal circumstances.
Dinos Focused On West Ham Survival Fight
“We are in a very difficult situation because it’s not in our hands. We have to see what’s going on as of now [with Tottenham’s result against Leeds].
“In the other games [we have still to play], the only thing we have to do is keep working like we do, working with each other we can get the best results from the last two games and after that, we will see where we will be.”
To be fair, what I’ve appreciated about recent comments from the players and indeed manager Nuno Espírito Santo is that whilst they’ve trotted out the well-worn media lines of taking each day as it comes and only being in control of their own destiny, they have all admitted to watching the other relegation-threatened teams’ games.
But with only two fixtures remaining, it is now win or bust for the team.
And there’s one thing I’m certain of, if there is any player who won’t be found wanting against Newcastle United and Leeds United, it will be Dinos.
He really is a good player, exciting to watch. If he could start hitting long counter-attack passes more often (he has occasionally), like Collins, that would be brilliant.
Noble should practice chipping a long ball over the backline with him – now would n’t that be a sight.
The improvement of Mav has coincided with the introduction of Disasi