Pablo Fornals is a cult hero at West Ham United, there’s no two ways about it.
He loves us and we love him, but could it be argued that our opinion of him is inflated due to his adoration for us as a fanbase?
Pablo Fornals joined West Ham from Villarreal way back in the summer of 2019 for around £24 million.
He enjoyed a fairly successful four-and-a-half year spell with the Hammers, and played a key role in our Europa Conference League triumph.
Pablo, 28, was a hugely popular figure at the London Stadium, and he still very much is.
Pablo Fornals struggled during his final year or so at West Ham, mainly because he didn’t fit into Moyes’s system whereby players weren’t allowed to express themselves in possession.
However, whenever he did play, he always put in 100% effort, and his love for the club was indisguisable.
The Spaniard recently sat down and thanked Moyes for the opportunity he gave him at West Ham.
Fornals also spoke glowingly about his former club and our players, including the likes of Jarrod Bowen.
The Hammers fans clearly love Fornals, but is that love based on an overriding sense of sentimentality rather than reality?
Sentimentality blinds reality with West Ham fans’ love for Pablo Fornals
The Spaniard left the London Stadium to join Real Betis in the January transfer window earlier this year.
However, he hasn’t exactly set the world alight with Betis.
Fornals has three goals and two assists to his name in 26 games for the La Liga side so far.
Whilst he has put in some decent performances for Real Betis, he hasn’t made a huge impact at Estadio Benito Villamarin.
In fact, a lot of Pablo Fornals’ performances have mirrored the displays he served up for West Ham over the final year of his spell at the London Stadium.
There seems to be so many games where the 28-year-old fails to have any kind of positive influence on proceedings.
Listen, I love Pablo – he is a true Hammer, and never let us down when it comes down to effort and commitment.
He proved during his early days with us that he’s a very talented player as well. I just don’t think that he is quite of the standard that many of us think he is.
He says with a tin foil hat on…
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