I’ll admit it — the first time I saw Soungoutou Magassa in the flesh, I was far from impressed.
It came during a defeat to Crystal Palace, which turned out to be Graham Potter’s final game in charge of West Ham United.
I was fortunate enough to have a front-row seat at the London Stadium, thanks to Hammers Chat’s sponsors, ETC Sports — giving me a bird’s-eye view of everything. Unfortunately, that also included Potter’s touchline instructions.
It was later in the game, when Magassa was introduced as a substitute, that I really focused on West Ham’s £20m summer signing from AS Monaco — and honestly, I wasn’t convinced.
The 21-year-old looked clumsy, short of coordination and nowhere near the fitness levels required for a Premier League that seems more intense than ever. The pace of the game appeared to be a complete culture shock, and I assumed it would take him a long time to adapt to English football.
West Ham have only scratched the surface with Magassa
Midfielder Still Needs to Impress Nuno
But things improved far quicker than I expected.
It didn’t take long before Magassa began to show real quality under Nuno Espírito Santo. I was so impressed at the time that I felt genuinely buoyed by both his arrival and that of Mateus Fernandes, hoping they’d form the backbone of West Ham’s midfield for years to come.
Magassa’s progress was capped by his goal at Old Trafford, but he offers far more than just goals.
The France Under-21 international reportedly played centre-back during his penultimate season at Monaco before moving into midfield. I’ve no reason to doubt that, but it’s as a midfielder where I think he truly shines.
That was evident against Manchester United this week, when he came off the bench and made a crucial last-ditch tackle inside Mads Hermansen’s penalty area — then still had the energy to burst forward. On another day, a more eagle-eyed Callum Wilson might even have squared the ball for him to score.
In short, he was effective at both ends of the pitch — and pretty damn good in the middle too.
Magassa looks like he has a bit of everything: strong tackling, aerial ability, a decent passing range, excellent first touch, high energy and the confidence to carry the ball. So I was pleased to see him again on Tuesday night.
Whether the injury to Pablo opens up more opportunities for Magassa remains to be seen. But if it were my decision, I’d play him in midfield alongside Fernandes and Tomáš Souček.
No doubt he’ll get another chance to impress tomorrow against Burton Albion — and I believe he’ll take it.
In fact, I think we’ve only scratched the surface of his potential.
I also think he is a good player
I agree he’s a better option that Potts who more defensively minded! I would like to see orford and kante in midfield as well to see how they adapt to premier league football
Agreed Gonzo. He, Fernandes and Potts can be huge for us as long as we stay up
Hopefully he and Kante will get the chance to play, Todibo and Kilman at CB, KWP and Scarles or Ezra Mayers at full back, Areola, Traore and Madrid on the wings, Wilson and Taty up front or maybe Cummings. Would be good if all the players for the rest of the season were in warmer climes with Paco refreshing and recharging before the Bournemouth game which will require a huge effort to win, we have been average 1.4 points a game under Nuno in recent times, if we could do that between now and the end of the season we would get another 16 or 17 points which would be enough though that means we need to win against Bournemouth or Liverpool and will definitely need to get a lot more results here is to winning tomorrow and riding the momentum COYI !!!