West Ham United made nine exciting new signings in the summer transfer window.
Julen Lopetegui worked closely with Tim Steidten to strengthen the West Ham squad beyond all recognition in the summer.
However, it has actually been claimed that there is friction behind the scenes regarding some of the Hammers’ summer business.
Lopetegui still has plenty of work to do on his squad at the London Stadium, and the Hammers head coach undoubtedly left himself short in certain areas in the summer.
One area where West Ham are well stacked is central midfield. We have plenty of options, despite a lack of pace, power and athleticism, but that will hopefully be addressed either in January or next summer.
One player Lopetegui brought into the club a couple of months ago was supposed to help with our play through the middle of the park.
However, he’s endured some really heavy criticism from some sections of fans so far, unfairly so in my eyes…
West Ham fans’ Carlos Soler criticism is knee-jerk in the extreme
Carlos Soler joined the Hammers from Paris Saint-Germain a couple of months ago.
Lopetegui was desperate to sign the Spain international in the summer, and he got his man on a season-long loan deal in the end.
When he arrived at West Ham, the fans were absolutely buzzing that we won the race for someone who was considered to be one of Europe’s most talented, and technically gifted central midfielders.
However, the Spaniard has made a really slow start to life at the London Stadium, with many West Ham fans writing him off already.
Soler has played just 195 Premier League minutes so far this season, and has been given only one start in the league (Transfermarkt).
Let’s not forget, in that start, Lopetegui inexplicably played the Spaniard out wide on the left wing!
Soler is a superb player from a technical perspective, but he doesn’t have any kind of pace – an attribute that is a necessity for wingers in the Premier League.
He was totally lost out on the wing against Manchester United, and was unable to get involved in our build-up play through middle of the pitch.
Soler has proven he’s top drawer
In his heyday with Valencia, he averaged 1.4 and 1.7 key passes respectively in La Liga during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons. He also made two key passes on average per match with Spain during the 2022 World Cup out in Qatar (Who Scored).
He can break the lines with his tremendous passing and vision, and is more than comfortable when given the ball in tight spaces.
Don’t get me wrong, the 27-year-old was very poor against Man United, but I blame Lopetegui for his display.
I have absolutely no doubts that Carlos Soler will come good for West Ham – Julen Lopetegui just needs to provide him with the platform he needs to succeed.
If the PSG loanee is given a run of games in central midfield, he will be a major player for the Hammers, trust me on that.
I find the criticism of Soler to be not only knee-jerk in the extreme, but rather embarrassing actually. Whatever happened to the fans supporting our news signings?
We absolutely shouldn’t be giving up on Soler yet – he has so much more to give.
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