West Ham: Felipe Anderson Continues to Shine for the Hammers
When West Ham signed Felipe Anderson from Lazio in July for a club-record £36 million, many thought the club had overspent, massively.
It’s been an impressive half-season for Brazilian star Felipe Anderson at the London Stadium, as he has completely hushed his many doubters with some brilliant performances in the English Premier League. After joining from Lazio for £36 million in the summer, many deemed Anderson to be highly overpriced, as his performances in Italy weren’t completely convincing.
It’s not like Felipe Anderson was poor in Serie A. In fact, he was quite productive for Lazio in the 5 seasons he spent with the club. The only issue that many saw with the signing was that Anderson had shown hints of being a slightly one-dimensional player, who struggled in physical matches, two deficiencies that don’t cooperate well with English Premier League football.
Anderson has proved these judgments to be false, as he has taken the Premier League by storm in his first half-season, becoming West Ham’s most crucial player in the process following Marko Arnautovic’s continued absence.
His start to the season wasn’t particularly convincing, and the adjustment period was tough for Anderson, but his quality has shone through in the end. We’re halfway through the season, and the Brazilian has bagged an impressive 8 goals and 2 assists, on pace for a stunning 20 goal contributions from left-wing. Despite having 8 goals, only 1 of them came in his first 10 Premier League matches for the club, while the other 7 have come in his last 9 matches.
Anderson will need to continue his hot form if West Ham are to challenge for a European Place.
As much money has West Ham have spent, they still simply aren’t quite where they want to be just yet. Currently sitting 9th in the Premier League, the Hammers will have to achieve 7th place or higher to get themselves into European competition, and they face some tough competition from the likes of Leicester, Everton, and Bournemouth.
The key for West Ham might just be Anderson’s form heading into the new year, along with Marko Arnautovic. These 2 represent major qualities for the Hammers, as players deserving of playing in European competition.
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Anderson is surely making a real case to be included in Tite’s plans with the Brazil national team as well, and at this point he is playing far better and more frequent football than some of his countrymen, such as Chelsea’s Willian and Barcelona’s Malcom.
His quality in the final third continues to make the difference for West Ham, who will be praying that his performances don’t catch the eye of some of Europe’s giants. One thing is for certain though – Anderson is performing at an elite level, and he is someone to keep an eye on for the rest of the season.