2023 signing who still hasn’t played for West Ham trains with first-team ahead of Newcastle

The Spaniard allegedly has just two games remaining to save his job – the upcoming clashes with Newcastle and Arsenal.

I think a heavy defeat up on Tyneside tonight could spell the end of the 58-year-old’s London Stadium tenure.

So he will be very keen to extract a big performance from his team tonight.

Nothing less than a draw and a convincing display will do.

Lopetegui has really been training his players very hard, even bringing them in for a night session last week.

And during the training session on Sunday, I noticed something very interesting indeed.

22-yo West Ham man trains with first-team ahead of Newcastle

Tonight’s clash with the Toon will be a vitally important one for the Hammers.

Lopetegui desperately needs a performance and a result from his players.

The Spaniard has been putting the players through their paces during training sessions over the past few days.

And there was somewhat of a surprise on view at Rush Green on Sunday.

Brazilian centre-back Luizao joined West Ham on a free transfer from Sao Paulo way back in January 2023.

However, he’s still yet to play a single minute for the senior side, despite featuring regularly for the under-21s.

West Ham actually tried to sell him in the summer, but his £4 million price-tag put off any potential suitors.

Corinthians made a £2.5 million bid for the 22-year-old centre-back, but the Hammers rejected the offer.

So what next for Luizao? Does he have a future at the London Stadium, or will he be moved on in January?

If yesterday’s first-team training session is anything to go by, he might just be set to stay in East London for a little while longer yet.

Luizao was spotted training with the first-team ahead of the Premier League clash with Newcastle.

WHUFC.com posted the below picture to the official website:

Now, I’m not sure why he would be training with the first-team if Lopetegui doesn’t rate him.

So maybe he will be given a big chance to impress by the Spanaird.

Luizao good enough for West Ham?

He has showcased his aggressive and tenacious approach to the game when playing for the Hammers under-21s.

Luizao has proven that he is extremely competent in the air and although he’s not the quickest, he does read the game pretty well.

That said, it’s clear that Luizao isn’t anywhere near good enough to play consistently in the Premier League, in my opinion.

I’m comfortable in making that assumption because Lopetegui would have given the Brazilian some minutes this term if he was, or certainly during the pre-season campaign.

I have to say, I don’t really understand why we didn’t sell him in the summer.

We have Kaelan Casey coming through the ranks, and he’s far superior to Luizao.

If a bid comes in for the 22-year-old centre-back in January, I think West Ham might just sell him, despite the fact that he’s been training with the first-team ahead of the Newcastle clash.

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