West Ham United youth coach Terry Westley has heaped praise on new signing Xande Silva after his impressive display against the Tottenham Hotspur under-23s on Monday night.
After arriving from Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes earlier this summer, the young attacker netted a six-minute upon his debut for the Hammers’ side as they won 3-1 against their Spurs’ counterparts.
Westley drooled over the Irons’ new signing, stating just how blown away he was by the youngster’s imposing ability in his first game.
He was quoted by club insider Claret and Hugh as saying: “At under 23 level he’s going to prove a serious handful against any team we meet. He is so quick over zero to five yards and has the ability to nick the ball off defenders and get in behind them. He also has a seriously powerful right foot and hits the ball so cleanly.
“He is a very powerful striker and he will be given the season to settle in – it’s down to him what sort of impact he can make at the higher level but he has made a seriously good start. Fair to say we really like the look of him!”
OPINION
Westley is right – West Ham have seriously got a fierce talent on their hands here, and we have only seen him play one match. It would not be surprising if senior boss Manuel Pellegrini took notice of his exploits, as not many players are able to score a six minute hat trick on their debut. The fact he was able to achieve that goes to show he is something really special, and at only 21, he is just going to get better and better – which is a scary prospect considering how good he is already. Once he plays a few more games for the under-23 side, we will be able to gauge whether he has the consistency to prolong this type of form, or if it was just a one off. It is only early on in the season, but the future looks bright for Silva – and he will need to prove that he has not done too much too soon. This is always a risk when a player goes far beyond the expectations in their first game – but for now, he just needs to concentrate doing as well as he can for Westley’s side.
