OPINION
Manuel Pellegrini must weave his managerial magic over West Ham defender Aaron Cresswell by exclusively using him as a left-sided midfielder next season.
The 28-year-old may face tougher competition for a spot in the Hammers first-team as a midfielder, depending on his new manger’s formation of choice, but he would be a game changer higher up the field.
Cresswell has regularly featured as a left-sided midfielder throughout his career but always seems to get dragged back into being a left-back.
Former Hammers boss David Moyes even tried to convert him into a left-sided central defender at the tail end of last season, and while it wasn’t a woeful decision, it was surely done to cover the lack of natural centre-backs in his squad.
However with new faces surely set to arrive this summer, including some centre-backs hopefully, there’s no reason for Cresswell’s talents to be wasted in this role.
Nor should he return to being a left-back as he was a liability on many ocassions last season.
The Hammers let in 68 goals in 38 league outings in their latest campaign, the joint highest amount of goals in the Premier League, and Cresswell played a huge part in that terrible statistic.
The defender, who currently earns £50,000-a-week according to Spotrac at the club, featured in all but two of the Hammers’ league games last season and had many games that he would sooner forget.
Cresswell’s outing against Bournemouth on Boxing Day and his blunder ridden display against Chelsea in April, in particular, showed what a defensive liability he could be.
However the 28-year-old’s crossing ability was as superb as ever throughout the campaign, with him racking up seven assists which is more than ever other Premier League defender managed, a fact that the club’s official Twitter account highlighted on Wednesday.
However Cresswell could easily focus on getting these delightfully helpful assists if switched into midfield, as his defensive duties would be less and he will be able to focus much more on helping his side’s attack.
With the 28-year-old able to no doubt provide more than seven assists next season if that was the case, he’d go from liability to game changer with one simple permanent switch of position.
This means that Pellegrini should transform Cresswell into an out-and-out left-sided midfielder next season as it would make the England international vital to his team.
