OPINION
West Ham defender Arthur Masuaku hasn’t really improved since joining the club in 2016 from Olympiacos and it’s easy to see why his progress is stalling.
The 24-year-old left-back is now working under his third manager at the Hammers and seems to be getting contradictory advice about how to improve.
While it’s unknown what area of his game Slaven Bilic wanted Masuaku to work on, David Moyes and current boss Manuel Pellegrini have both used the press to hand the left-back advice about what he needs to do improve.
Last season when in charge of the Hammers, Moyes implied that he was happy with Masuaku’s defensive contribution, as he claimed he brought balance to the side, but wanted him to work on the attacking side of his game.
“He is a really good boy,” stated Moyes in March, as quoted by Football.London.
“What he done was out of character but I have enjoyed him, he gives us a balance.
“We want to improve him, score more goals and get more assists but he’s quick, good on the ball as well.”
However now that Pellegrini is in charge, the former Manchester City boss clearly thinks the 24-year-old’s attacking side of the game is fine and wants his defending to improve.
“Arthur is maybe a more attacking player but he has to improve a lot defending so we have in that position very good cover,” the Hammers boss was quoted as saying by Football.London.
Yet Masuaku clearly didn’t heed Moyes’ advice as after the manager had made those comments, the defender only contributed one assists and no goals in the games that remained.
Even though that is the case Pellegrini seems happy with the left-back’s attacking qualities and just wants him to focus on his defending.
Hopefully the current Hammers boss is there long enough to give the left-back consistent advice as if the manager changes again, then perhaps he will give Masuaku another goal before the player has addressed the issues previously highlighted.
It’s clear that Moyes as well as Pellegrini are both right as Masuaku should be contributing more assists and should improve defensively as he has been a liability so far in his eight appearances this season.
Yet given that he has received contradicted advice in a matter of months, then it’s no wonder that his progress is stalling and he’s not improving in any area as a result.
