During his 15-minute cameo against Gent last night, Pablo Fornals had an incredibly poor performance for West Ham United, writes the HammerNews.
Despite West Ham’s victory, the midfielder was only used as a late substitute by David Moyes. Fornals has had a difficult few months at the London Stadium, having been handed only four starts by Moyes in West Ham’s last 21 Premier League games. Moyes didn’t even bring him on off the bench in five of those 21 games.
According to Transfermarkt, Fornals has played just 412 minutes of action in the Premier League since West Ham beat Fulham on October 9th. Fornals has played on average only 25 minutes per game during the 16 matches where he has featured. Although he has played more regularly in the Conference League, he was not even brought off the bench in the game against Gent last week and was only given 15 minutes, including injury time, last night.
Fornals’ recent lack of playing time at West Ham suggests that he has fallen out of favor with Moyes, and his contract expiring in 2024 may mean his days with the club are limited. His performance as a late substitute against Gent last night was poor, showing a lack of confidence and conviction in his actions, with imprecise passing and a general reluctance to be on the pitch. This was highlighted when he hit the ball into the home fans after it had gone out of play, which angered the supporters.
Moyes will likely need to sell some first-team players in order to make room to strengthen his squad at the London Stadium during the summer.