OPINION
It wasn’t a perfect performance from West Ham United attacker Xande Silva in the team’s 2-0 win over Birmingham City on Saturday, but it was packed full of promise.
The 21-year-old was handed his first start for the club in the FA Cup third round tie and, on the most part, he showed why manager Manuel Pellegrini has been so keen to fast track him.
His form for the U-23s has set pulses racing in East London ever since he joined in the summer, and so it was refreshing to see him get a first team opportunity against the Championship side.
He showed what all the fuss was about with an energetic, positive display. He looked lively from the first minute and showed a good ability to link up with the more senior players around him.
It was an uneven performance, true. He was guilty of trying to do too much and is still incredibly raw, but his unpredictable nature is what makes him an asset to this team, and he certainly has the speed and eye for goal to cause any defence problems.
He needs to tidy his game up and be more clinical with the chances that he gets, but on Saturday’s evidence he is in it for the long haul at the London Stadium.
The Hammers don’t really have a frontman who can pick the ball up and run at defenders. Goalscorer Marko Arnautovic can do it at times, but he doesn’t have exceptional pace. Andy Carroll is a pure target man, while Javier Hernandez operates almost exclusively in the box.
Silva is something different, then, and the Portuguese attacker demonstrated that on Saturday. It’s clear that Pellegrini thinks highly of him and, given the progress that Declan Rice and Grady Diangana have made this term, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him lock down a starting spot in short order.
Again, he wasn’t perfect against Garry Monk’s side, but there was enough in his performance to get the West Ham fans excited, and to indicate that he could be a fixture in this Hammers team for a long time to come.
