West Ham summer signing, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, has turned out to be something of a surprise to me.
I have to admit that when we were linked with a plethora of different right-backs in the summer transfer window, AWB was quite a bit down the list, and if I’m honest, I’d have preferred Kyle Walker-Peters.
Sure, Wan-Bissaka had the reputation of being an excellent one-on-one defender, but his protracted transfer left me feeling a little cold. Perhaps my caution had something to do with West Ham’s failed attempt to sign Harry Maguire from Manchester United the season before. If memory serves me correctly, the Hammers were on the cusp of completing the deal, only for Maguire to get greedy and demand a loyalty payment from the Red Devils to leave Old Trafford.
As a result, when I began hearing constant reports of Wan-Bissaka’s ridiculous wage demands, I started to think he was just another football mercenary out for a quick buck… I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Obi Wan-Bissaka (if you’re a Star Wars geek like me) has been nothing short of sensational since his £18 million transfer from Man United. Not only have West Ham got the famed defensive skills attributed to the player, but he is also far more skilful than I thought he would be, as his two goals already this season suggest.
However, it is his commitment to the cause that has been most impressive.
There were a number of players who disappointed me during Saturday’s draw against Brighton because I felt they’d given up trying. That is not something that can’t be levelled against Wan-Bissaka, who gives everything for the team, as demonstrated by his 95th-minute goal-line clearance, where he put himself in harm’s way to get his team a point.
Footballers willing to put themselves in physical peril for their team are a rare breed indeed. West Ham have been lucky in recent seasons to have two such players in Vladimir Coufal and Tomáš Souček… It would appear AWB is cut from the same cloth.
It’s always a bit crude to refer to any footballer who costs millions of pounds as a “bargain,” but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is on his way to becoming the new gritty Mr Reliable at West Ham, and that’s precisely the type of quality we like in East London.
When some of his teammates were looking like they really couldn’t be bothered, Aaron Wan-Bissaka was throwing himself into challenges and making last-ditch tackles as if his life depended on it. That’s the stuff Hammers cult heroes are made of.
