West Ham have suffered an injury blow after up-and-coming winger Xande Silva suffered a setback in his return from a hamstring injury, according to club insiders Claret and Hugh.
The Hammers news site, which has extensive links within the London Stadium, report that the 21-year-old Portuguese speed machine is expected to be out for another four to five weeks.
Initial estimations when Silva suffered the injury in mid-September were for a six-week lay-off, as reported by football.london, but that now looks to have been extended several weeks.
OPINION
It looks like that initial prognosis of six weeks on the sidelines has now extended to eight or nine weeks for Silva, and that is a bitter blow for both him and the club. The powerful 21-year-old had been in mightily impressive form for the club’s Under-23s following his arrival from Vitoria Guimaraes in the summer, and looked good for a promotion to the first-team set-up very soon. Manager Manuel Pellegrini has already promoted both Grady Diangana and Nathan Holland from the Under-23s this season, so Silva really did stand a good chance of that happening soon. This injury has however brought his progress to a halt, and will likely see him have to work his way back into contention once again. The improved form of the first-team also makes it less likely that he will get that breakthrough so quickly, but if he picks up where he left off after his return then there is no reason for that not to happen this season.
