In the summer when Slaven Bilic came in we were all pleasantly surprised by the war chest granted to him by the two David’s. In our final year at the Boleyn they had, through this sizeable investment, made it clear that mid-table mediocrity was not on the agenda.
Of the large amount spent by Slaven as he assembled his squad around €11 million euros were spent on versatile Italian defender Angelo Ogbonna. Having been signed from the Italian champions and being part of a squad which reached the champions league final it was once again a statement of intent by the club into the calibre of players that they wished to have.
A Premier League debut for the Italian was accompanied with a historic away win and clean sheet and the stage was set for success. However a poor home start to the season led to some fans near to my own season ticket to begin second guessing the new boy and an injury in the early months did nothing to help. Throughout the injury whispers of homesickness and a potential move to at the time league leaders Fiorentina was said to be on the cards but nothing materialised. That proved to be a blessing as following the return of Ogbonna the teams form improved once more, as the Italian matured to the English game his natural defensive ability shone through turning doubters into stout supporters. His support then maximised following his 120th minute winner in the FA cup 4th round replay at home to Liverpool where the former Torino man gave himself a place in hammers folklore, there are not many better ways to open your account at a new club!
Since that night under the lights the former right back has proved himself a capable partner for all other centre backs at the club, with convincing displays alongside Winston Reid, James Collins and youngster Reece Oxford. All of the aforementioned factors are clear reasons as to why the summer signing has become an unsung hero for the West Ham faithful. Angelo himself will be hoping that his inspirational form since the turn of the year will give him safe passage into Antonio Conte’s Euro 2016 squad as implied by a tweet made by the Italian not too long ago!
