That Nuno Espirito Santo persisted with Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo, rather than giving Igor Julio his first Premier League minutes at West Ham United, did not appear to bode particularly well for the Brighton loanee.
Surely, as many supporters said in the build up to Friday’s typically calamitous 2-1 defeat by Leeds, Nuno simply had to give Igor Julio a go.
The 27-year-old Brazilian was not exactly the sort of signing which put goosebumps on arms when he moved to the London Stadium on deadline day. But with Jean-Clair Todibo doing very little to justify his recall, with Max Kilman a shadow of the player who impressed under Nuno at Wolves and after West Ham lost Konstantinos Mavropanos to injury, Elland Road had to be the destination of Igor’s first start, right?
Wrong.
The former Fiorentina powerhouse watched on helplessly once again as Todibo and Kilman again left Alphonse Areola exposed, Leeds consigning West Ham United to a seventh defeat in nine Premier League matches and a third in a row under Nuno.
Now, what does this say about Igor’s prospects under Nuno? A manager who arrived, remember, just weeks after Graham Potter brought him to East London. If he cannot buy a start despite the abysmal showings of Kilman and Todibo, meanwhile, West Ham’s interest in £25 million-rated Lille defender Alexsandro would surely be the final straw as far as Igor’s hopes of a long-term stay in the capital are concerned.
Bad news for Max Kilman and Igor Julio as West Ham United open Alexsandro talks
Back in September, West Ham were leaving the door ajar for Igor to turn his temporary deal into a permanent one later down the line.
Nearly two months on, however, that he has played a grand total of one Premier League minute has done little to dispel the feeling that this was nothing more than a deadline day quick-fix. A cheap, sticking plaster acquisition who was never intended to be anything more than a back-up.
Alexsandro, though, would be precisely the opposite.
ESPN Brazil report that Lille value the 26-year-old Brazilian at £25 million-plus. Yet, while coins are not exactly pouring out of David Sullivan’s pockets right now, Hammers News can confirm that West Ham have opened talks with the French side.
Alexsandro, we revealed, is also Nuno’s first-choice January target for the central defensive department. There is also early optimism that a deal could be done.
When the prospect of signing Alexsandro was put to a source at the club, meanwhile, the response pointed towards outside solutions being sought. Hardly a vote of confidence, then, for those already in the building.
“The team simply must stop conceding goals at the rate they have been, and it looks like there’s only one way to fix that now,” that source said. “The Lille player was on Nuno’s list when he arrived and he is the top target.
“Early talks have been held over price and whether the deal can be done, and the signs are good. Ideally, Nuno wants him in the building in the first week of January as every game is going to be so important.”
Lille ‘warrior’ could be a fitting Kilman replacement
It is not just Igor, though, who appears in danger of being pushed down the pecking order. And although he could be forgiven for feeling a little short-changed if Alexsandro does arrive, Max Kilman could have comparatively few complaints.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher summed it up nicely when he said, after the abysmal 2-0 home defeat by Brentford, that Max Kilman is simply ‘too passive’ to lead West Ham’s defence. Even during far happier times at Molineux, Kilman caught the eye under Nuno Espirito Santo due to his bullish ball-playing, rather than his ability to dominate the penalty area.
Alexsandro, though, appears to combine the left-footed, line-breaking qualities of Kilman with an aggression so clearly lacking from West Ham’s soft, yellow-bellied backline.
“It is his strongest characteristic, you don’t even know if he’s left-footed or right-footed!,” former Lille assistant coach Jorge Maciel told L’Equipe and La Void du Nord. “And he has the ability to play long or short with both feet. For a central defender, that’s incredible.
“He has all the qualities to become a top-level central defender, playing right-footed, left-footed, short-passes, long-passes.
“He sometimes doesn’t need to put [aggression] into a tackle, but it’s something that suits him because it gets the fans going. He loves it. He makes a tackle, he heads it, he gets the stadium on its feet…
“It’s very Brazilian.”
Per Data MB, Alexsandro won 91 per cent of his aerial duels last season, compared to Kilman’s 52 per cent. Considering that defending crosses and set-pieces is clearly the biggest issue holding West Ham back – both of Leeds’ goals on Friday came from exactly those two situations – Alexsandro’s willingness to put his head where it hurts should go a long way to fixing that long-running Achilles heel.
Lucas Chevalier, the PSG goalkeeper who played behind Alexsandro at the Stade Pierre Mauroy, called Alexsandro a ‘warrior’. The comments made by Lille coach Bruno Genesio will be music to West Ham ears too, while his predecessor Paulo Fonseca also said that even Leny Yoro cannot rival Alexsandro when it comes to his pace, physicality and ferocity.
“He ticks a lot of boxes in what we look for in a central defender today,” said Genesio. “He’s good with his head, is very quick, is very aggressive in duels, and he’s capable of playing the ball out, either with passes that break lines or with his ball control.”
If the die looks cast already for Igor Julio at West Ham, another disastrous Kilman display against Newcastle this weekend would only add to the feeling that Alexsandro is not only a useful addition, but a necessity.
