West Ham have struggled to find their feet this season, continuing a trend that they experienced throughout the entirety of their debut season at the London Stadium, and there’s a crucial few months ahead for the Hammers.
The summer signings stood-out as excellent but have thus far failed to lead to significant improvements for the Hammers side, whilst Slaven Bilic continues to show his tactical ineptitude with decisions that include playing Javier Hernandez out wide to make room for and out-of-sorts Andy Carroll.
Whilst faith is being kept in the current first-choice line-up, especially in regards to the new signings, many on the fringes are being left frustrated- and that includes Spanish goalkeeper Adrian, who’s seen his spot between the sticks claimed by loanee Joe Hart.
Adrian, 30-years-old, has given West Ham four years of service and has made over 100 league appearances for the Hammers but has unceremoniously been dropped in favour of Hart which, although unsurprising, is a real kick to the teeth.
In circumstances that are again unsurprising, Adrian has spoken to Radio Marca and hinted at a January exit- with his patience running thin after he lost his spot for the majority of last season to Darren Randolph.
“The coach is not giving me much ball this year, but the data is there. It only remains to fight. Without playing, I repeat the call with the Spanish team disappears. The market will be reopened and an agreement must be reached because I am not happy in this situation.”
West Ham, on their part, should have seen this coming. Adrian has aspirations to earn a call-up to the Spanish national side and that’s not going to happen whilst he’s playing second-fiddle to Joe Hart, a stopper who also needs game-time as he looks to cement his position between the sticks with the England squad.
Adrian has played in both Carabao Cup games this season, keeping consecutive clean-sheets, and is likely to remain in that spot for next week’s crunch tie with Tottenham Hotspur- although playing in the cup competitions isn’t going to keep him happy.
West Ham’s issue though is that they lack significant depth in between the sticks and the situation of having two experienced goalkeepers who are seeking regular first-team football for their own personal ambitions is a situation that could have, and probably should have, been avoided.
Randolph was sent to Middlesbrough in the summer and Adrian remains as Joe Hart’s only senior understudy within the squad, which means that the Hammers will be in a very difficult position should the Spaniard push for an exit.
Injury or suspension could hand Adrian his chance but he’s not prepared to wait, which again is understandable considering the situation he’s endured over the course of the last year. There is young options in the U23 side but they’re inexperienced and cannot be relied upon so soon.
Another issue for West Ham is there is no guarantee that Hart will stay beyond his loan spell this season and could attract plenty of interest. The Hammers cannot afford to put all their eggs in one basket, so they must do all they can to keep Adrian happy.
