When West Ham made Luis Guilherme their first signing of the Julen Lopetegui era hopes and expectations were high.
The bizarre situation surrounding Luis Guilherme is becoming one of the subplots of the new Julen Lopetegui era so far at West Ham.
Hammers fans were seriously excited by the signing of Guilherme given how hard technical director Tim Steidten pushed to make him the club’s first signing of the Lopetegui era.
After chasing him for weeks – and making several trips to Brazil for talks – a £20m deal was struck with Palmeiras.
Some questions were raised over the fee given the 18-year-old had only made 19 senior appearances for the Brazilian club.
His goal and assist record was not as impressive as video montages of his pace, power and skill on YouTube.
Some supporters have been baffled by his lack of involvement so far.
The curious case of West Ham ‘priority target’ Guilherme
It has given rise to conspiracy theories that Lopetegui doesn’t rate Guilherme or think he’s ready for the Premier League having seen him up close.
The confusion around Guilherme stems from the fact Steidten declared he would be ‘a player for now and the future’ when he was unveiled by West Ham.
“A technically gifted attacking player blessed with searing pace and acceleration, elusive dribbling skills and a superb left foot, Luis Guilherme is a hugely promising talent who was identified as a priority target by Technical Director Tim Steidten and Head Coach Julen Lopetegui,” West Ham said when the winger was unveiled.
“He is technically very gifted, but also has very good physical qualities – great pace, strength and stamina, and these are traits that will help him to adapt to the demands of the Premier League and English football,” Steidten added.
“Luis is obviously still very young, but we have no doubt that he is ready to make an impact in the first team here.”
Fast forward three months and the only squad Guilherme had made until the game at Brentford was the League Cup tie against Bournemouth.
Lopetegui’s treatment of Guilherme makes big news in Brazil
The Brazil Under 20 international didn’t get on in that game or when he rather surprisingly made the cut for the Bees.
Guilherme was said to have impressed in training recently yet was still not in squads for Chelsea or Liverpool.
Guilherme has been featured in West Ham’s last three pre-game first team training galleries. But he hadn’t made any of those squads. Then he played – and scored – for the Under 21s against Benfica on Tuesday night.
That seemed like a sensible use of the young starlet.
So supporters expected him to be named in the Under 21s squad again for the clash with Chelsea on Friday night. Except he wasn’t.
Then after making the bench for Brentford he didn’t get on. So another week passes by with no game time to speak of for the young winger.
Is it any wonder then that there is confusion in east London and back in his homeland.
Lopetegui’s treatment of Guilherme since £20m West Ham move is making big news in Brazil.
Brazilian journalist and Henrique Toth of Vamo Futebol contacted Hammers News to try and understand why Guilherme finds himself in the puzzling predicament.
Toth reported surprise at Palmeiras about the lack of game time for the player they called the ‘jewel’.
He also revealed the £20m deal could get even more expensive for the Hammers with another £5m of bonuses built in when various clauses are met.
‘There is real curiosity at Palmeiras, but Luis has time’
“This is a real curiosity for Palmeiras and their fans,” Toth told Hammers News.
“The club itself isn’t too concerned about that (his lack of game time) yet even though there are £5m possible in bonuses.
“Because Luis has time, he signed a five-season contract.
“Palmeiras saw two players who came through its youth ranks leave the club this year for European football in the summer. Endrick moved permanently to Real Madrid in Spain and Luis Guilherme to West Ham in England.
“While the center forward is finding his space and generating bonuses for Verdão at Reak, it seems Guilherme will need more time based on his lack of opportunities so far.”
In conversation with Toth, Hammers News tried to offer some mitigation for the thinking behind Lopetegui’s treatment of Guilherme thus far.
Realistically the long-term plan behind the signing was that Guilherme would get time to bed in and eventually succeed Mohammed Kudus who will likely be sold next summer.
So there is still plenty of time for him to become a star at West Ham.
How can he be expected to develop if he is not playing regularly, though? Lopetegui needs to either give him game time from the bench or ensure he gets matches for the Under 21s. He can’t leave him in limbo and only training.
Guilherme’s case is also not that unusual when you look at West Ham’s other summer signings.
Lopetegui has chosen to drip-feed many of them so far – much to the frustration of many fans.
£20m winger going through Lopetegui’s drip-feeding process?
Jean-Clair Todibo – arguably the club’s star capture of the summer – had barely kicked a ball until Wednesday.
The top source inside West Ham exclusively revealed to Hammers News that Lopetegui did not feel Todibo was tough enough for the Premier League until then.
The Frenchman impressed at Brentford and in the first half at Liverpool.
Others are being brought along slowly too. So it’s probably safe to assume Lopetegui feels Guilherme must follow the same arc.
The season is long and hard in England and especially testing over the winter. So Guilherme’s chances shouldn’t be written off yet, as that’s when he may get his big opportunity after a few months of bedding in.
As the old saying goes – good things come to those who wait. Hopefully that is true for both West Ham and Guilherme.
If not then serious questions will be raised about the signing as West Ham missed out on prime striker target Jhon Duran over just £5-10m.
Fans are not happy as they were desperate to see Duran sign and he has been on fire ever since. If it turns out Guilherme’s face doesn’t fit, many will argue the money could have been used to get Duran.
Especially as the most senior spokesman inside West Ham told Hammers News at the weekend that Steidten elected to sign Niclas Fullkrug and Guilherme instead of paying more for Duran.
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