OPINION
The injury to West Ham United attacker Marko Arnautovic has left the Hammers without their most talented player and their main man up top.
That leaves a vacancy that must be filled. However, it appears that manager Manuel Pellegrini is going to extreme lengths in his search for inspiration sans Arnautovic.
Football London reported on Friday that the Chilean was considering calling up young striker Xande Silva to the first team for Saturday’s game against Crystal Palace.
This is the same Xande Silva who only returned for the U-23’s last week having spent ten weeks on the sidelines due to injury. Suddenly he’s being called up to the first team?
Yes, he scored twice in his comeback game last time out, but this feels far too rushed for the young man. The 21-year-old has looked seriously impressive for the U-23’s both before and after his injury, but surely he needs more time before being hoisted into the first team set up.
He needs to fully rehabilitate and get regular games with the youth team before he makes the step up. Yes, he is only being considered for a place on the bench, but the fact is that he’s not needed at all at this moment in time.
Both Javier Hernandez and Lucas Perez have got on the scoresheet in West Ham victories over the past week, while frontman Andy Carroll is also back in the reckoning at last after injury.
Arnautovic is a big loss, but calling Silva up is controversial and a potential big blunder from Pellegrini. The Portuguese needs to get his fitness back and keep banging the goals in for the U-23’s.
The Hammers are well stocked up front at this moment in time, and have enough variety with Hernandez, Perez and Carroll not to risk rushing a young player before he’s ready.
Pellegrini is clearly worried by the Austrian’s absence, but Silva isn’t the solution, not yet at least. The manager should stick with what he knows and give the young man the time to develop that he needs.
