Why West Ham should not sell Felipe Anderson
According to the Mirror, West Ham boss David Moyes will put expensive additions, including £40million-rated Felipe Anderson for sale.
Moyes is trying to rebuild the Hammers squad ahead of next season after saving them from relegation.
Moyes has decided to put some of his expensive players such as Anderson, Ukrainian winger Andriy Yarmolenko, and Albian Ajeti for sale in order to fund a move for Brentford star Said Benrahma.
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Anderson has endured one of the most difficult campaigns with West Ham this season since his arrival from Serie A side Lazio back in 2018.
The Brazilian winger has managed just one goal and five assists despite featuring in 27 games for them across all competitions. His performances seemed to have hit a different low this season as he was one of Hammers’ best players last season.
He scored 9 goals and provided 4 assists last season that saw them finish 10th in the league table compared to their lowly 16th this term. However, having racked up a total of 11 goals and 10 assists from 67 appearances for West Ham, it is clear that Anderson is nothing short of talent.
Anderson can offer West Ham experience and versatility
His continued failure to live up to the expectations this season forced West Ham to search for new options during the January transfer window. They roped in winger Jarrod Bowen from Hull City and the youngster has been impressive since his arrival, scoring one goal and giving four assists from just 13 league matches.
Nonetheless, Bowen is comfortable playing across the right and has featured very few times on the left during his career. In his entire career so far, the 23-year-old has played just eight times on the left, including once for the Hammers in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, West Ham do not have enough depth at left-wing. Moyes deployed summer signing Pablo Fornals this season on the left but he is more of an attacking midfielder than a winger. Unlike Bowen and Fornals, Anderson is more experienced and is a versatile attacker, having featured in a variety of positions up front for West Ham, and also for former sides Lazio and Santos.
Thus, his versatility in attack will be an added benefit for any side, let alone the Hammers. All they have to do is to keep more faith in Anderson and offer him more chances next season. Losing him will hurt the side badly next season if they don’t find a suitable replacement for the Brazilian.
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Verdict
It is clear that West Ham have a dearth of left-wingers in their side and letting go of Anderson could prove to be costly. Just one poor season would be too harsh to judge the experienced campaigner. In fact, he was one of West Ham’s best performers last season. Moreover, he is still 27 and has plenty of football left in him.
