OPINION
If you look up “forgotten man” in the dictionary, you would see a photo of Carlos Sanchez. Or at least you would if somebody had remembered to put it there. The Colombian featured just eight times for West Ham last term due to injury issues, and at the age of 33, and with several options available to Manuel Pellegrini in the centre of the park, you wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave east London this summer. But come the first game of preseason, against Austrian side Attach, Sanchez was thrown into the starting 11 by his manager, and rewarded him with an opening goal in a 3-2 win inside the first few minutes. Now, whether one goal against a side nobody has heard of before is enough to save Sanchez’s West Ham career remains to be seen, but certainly, it is a good start. If he can stay fit, and if he can replicate the 88.8% pass completion rate he did during his fleeting Premier League appearances last season [Whoscored], then Sanchez can still be an asset to the Irons. Will he start every week? Of course not. But can he be a valuable option to sure things up in the engine room during the latter stages of matches? There musth still be some hope for him yet.
Forever West Ham have gathered some of the best tweets below:
