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Does West Ham’s forgotten ace have an Upton Park future?

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Ricardo Vaz TeSaturday wasn’t my favourite game of the season. The international break seemed to have ripped West Ham’s preferred starting line-up to shreds, forcing Sam Allardyce’s hand into putting out a squad with only three new signings included in it. While Saturday’s line-up was mostly a throw-back to last season’s starting 11, there was one piece of memorabilia that somehow managed just nine minutes even though our squad was depleted beyond belief – our very own Ricardo Vaz Te.
 
Vaz Te started off the season as a viable option for the Hammers, playing against Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton (admittedly, games I’d rather forget) and putting in a full 90 minutes in our comfortable victory over Liverpool-annihilators Crystal Palace— but the Everton game is the first league game he’s played for West Ham United since August.
 
Given that we’ve seen so little of the player this season, does Vaz Te still have a future at West Ham United, or will he struggle to earn playing time even in instances where we’re so depleted in numbers that we’ve got youth team players on the bench?
 
Injuries have not helped Vaz Te over the years, and he has been unlucky to miss large patches of two consecutive seasons after dislocating his shoulder multiple times, as well as suffering a plethora of other injuries. Our impressive new signings finding their feet in the Premier League has relegated Vaz Te to the bench at best, and the nine minutes he put in on Saturday after coming on for Morgan Amalfitano are unlikely to have paved the way for him to retain a place in the squad once our injured players return.
 
It’s a shame for Ricardo, but I think that his days with the squad are indeed numbered. Although we did not leave Goodison Park with any points, there were positives to take from the resurgence of what is likely to be West Ham’s B-squad – Mauro Zarate has now scored two goals in his five appearances (none of them being a full 90 minutes, mind) and according to WhoScored.com, Andy Carroll won more aerial duels in the Everton match than any other Premier League player has this season. Not bad for a first day back.
 
It’s good to have depth in squad, and it just may be the case that this year we can still put in a game of football even when we’ve got so many players out (a different ref, a different day, and it could have been a different result) – but I struggle to see how much we will see of Ricardo this year, unless he can work his way well above the line of players waiting in front of him.
 
What do you think about West Ham’s forgotten man? Does he still have a role to play for West Ham, or would it be best for him to consider a move to another club? Let us know below!

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2 comments

  • JOHN TYLER says:

    No he doesn’t, and hasn’t been a player I would keep since we won our Play-off to get us into the Premiership.
    He would however, make a Club in the Championship, a good signing because alas that is his best chance of being a success, he is not a Premiership player and never has been.
    Others who have no real future are: COLE, O’BRIEN, DEMEL & MORRISON, sell them in January and get a decent centre half in case Reid leaves and a couple of full backs, one for the right side and one for the left side, we are adequate in all other areas and should qualify for Europe in one of the comps with that squad.

    COYI

  • Brian McFlipper says:

    Did you use the word “ace” in the same sentence as Vaz Te????????????????

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