OPINION
Clinton Morrison admitted he forgot Pablo Fornals joined West Ham when running through the reasons why Manuel Pellegrini was under pressure.
The Sky Sports pundit noted that due to the Hammers spending big money on signing players in the summer then Pellegrini’s job was at risk following the club’s recent winless run in the Premier League.
Morrison pointed out Fornals as an example of the club’s transfer business and said he forgot the playmaker was at the London Stadium as he hadn’t exactly had a regular place in the team or hit the ground running.
“They spent a big of money in the summer, you look at Pablo Fornals and I forgot they had signed him,” said Morrison on talkSPORT (10:54am, Wednesday, November 13th).
“He’s been in and out of that team, he’s not hit the ground running.”
While it seems harsh for a pundit to completely forget about a player, Morrison’s memory lapse surely sums up Fornals’ 2019/20 campaign so far.
The 23-year-old has played 11 times in the Premier League this season and aside from failing to complete 90 minutes on any occasions, it’s very telling that five of his appearances have seen him play under 30 minutes of a match. (Source: Transfmarket)
Fornals has failed to contribute a goal or an assist in his league outings, he did score in the 2-0 win over Newport County in the EFL Cup, and hasn’t really had much of an impact in general.
The playmaker has only averaged 0.5 key passes per match, which is really low for a creative player, has only completed 0.4 dribbles on average per match, once again low for an attacking outlet and has managed to be dispossessed 0.9 times per game which is hardly a positive, across his league outings. (Source: WhoScored)
To make matters worse, when you consider the Hammers invested £24million in signing Fornals from Villarreal, as per BBC Sport, it just shows he is not living up to expectations.
While the playmaker is still young enough to make a real difference at the London Stadium, it’s safe to say his debut campaign isn’t going to plan so far and Morrison forgetting about him, is actually not the worst comment he could receive considering.
