OPINION
The return of West Ham midfielder Jack Wilshere can’t come soon enough as Manuel Pellegrini needs options to choose from in case Pedro Obiang’s display against Brighton wasn’t a one off.
The 26-year-old summer signing is expected to return from injury in four or five weeks, according to a reliable Hammers insider EXWHUemployee, via The West Ham Way podcast, but the Hammers were coping fine without him ahead of the clash with the Seagulls.
“Wilshere is about four or five weeks away from coming back so we are short in that central midfield are there,” said the insider on The West Ham Way podcast (Show 106 at 58:18).
Wilshere was probably fretting about how he could get back into the Hammers’ first-team upon returning from injury as Obiang, Mark Noble and Declan Rice looked like the right option to play in the middle of the park.
However Obiang against Brighton showed that the return of Wilshere is indeed needed as he submitted an awful display during his side’s 1-0 defeat.
The Spanish midfielder, who earns £55,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac) had a horror show against Brighton as he seemed to misplace the majority of his passes, struggle to hold onto the ball and just looked lost.
While hopefully Obiang just had a bad day at the office, it did show that there was room for Wilshere to force his way back into the first-team despite struggling in his first few outings for the team.
The former Arsenal midfielder will still needs to find a way to work alongside Noble, as both don’t benefit from how the other plays, but even Wilshere can improve on the performance Obiang submitted against Brighton.
At the very least a fit again Wilshere is needed by Pellegrini in order to cover for the dramatic blips in form like the one Obiang experienced on Friday night as it stops players resting on their laurels.
