Were West Ham right to give him a new deal?

Since the shoulder injury Ricardo Vaz Te suffered against Swansea City back in October, I have heard next to no updates from the club nor anyone else about his recovery and when he may be back in action. This is in contrast to the various statements and stories we have heard about Andy Carroll and Winston Reid on the club’s official website and other places (which have generally turned out to be far from accurate).

I was suspecting that the club wanted to offload the Portuguese forward in the January window, as they tried to do in the summer, but then news came through last week that the club have extended his contract until the end of next season.

I for one am pleased with this as I actually feel Vaz Te is another player we have missed a lot this season alongside the many others who have been injured this campaign, despite the lack of coverage he has received.

I know a lot of supporters aren’t too keen on him, and it’s true he can be lazy and have little impact on a game for long spells. However, he is someone who is capable of producing something special out of nothing, and making a real difference in the attacking areas with goals and assists.

Vaz Te, I feel, can lull opposition defenders into a false sense of security, by having little impact in a match and then suddenly unleashing say a 30-yard strike into the top corner, or a brilliant overhead kick. A great example of such an occurrence is the Manchester City game this season where he produced a stunning overhead kick to get us back into the match. Or the hat trick against Brighton two seasons back where he scored a long-range piledriver, a header and an acrobatic overhead kick. This sort of thing has happened on quite a few occasions in his West Ham career.

I’m not even suggesting that he always be an automatic starter, especially when most of our other players are fit (which sadly hasn’t been the case this season). But when the team needs a goal, Vaz Te is always capable of unlocking a tough defence with something unpredictable. This is in stark contrast to a team mainly filled with functional players whom you know what you’re going to get from. For example we all know when Matt Jarvis gets the ball he’ll look to cross.

A quick look at the stats is another reason we need to keep Vaz Te. In a team that has been struggling for goals this season, we have someone who has consistently found the back of the net in his West Ham career, and this is despite mainly playing as a winger for us.

Since joining the club in the middle of our promotion campaign two years ago in January 2012, the marksman has scored 19 goals in 43 appearances for the club in all competitions. This is a much better goal ratio than any other forward currently at the club has scored for us.

While a lot came in the Championship, he has still delivered since our promotion to the Premier League. This season, for example, in five starts in Premier League and Capital One Cup the Portuguese man has managed four goals. Pretty prolific.

When Vaz Te returns from injury, we need someone like him who can really make a difference attacking wise and carve out goals and chances, because we desperately need goals and victories very quickly. Giving him a new deal was the right call.