Straight-talking pundit Tim Sherwood says West Ham are carrying a player who is so selfish he’s a ‘liability’ and believes Nuno Espirito Santo should get rid at the first opportunity.
In fact Tim Sherwood says if he were Nuno Espirito Santo he would offer to drive the Hammers star in question to his next club in order to raise funds for new signings.
West Ham are a complete shambles right now from top to bottom.
The Hammers are on their fourth manager in 18 months, fans are protesting to force the owners out, the team has won just 17 of their last 66 Premier League games and are now cut adrift in the bottom three staring the very real possibility of relegation in the face.
West Ham look like they may pay a hefty price for failing to invest properly in the squad as a new Premier League record was set for spending in the summer window.
Hammers in a mess from top to bottom
Things could have been even worse too had West Ham sold Lucas Paqueta late in the window amid interest from Aston Villa and two teams in Brazil.
Paqueta was reportedly open to the move according to Fabrizio Romano.
Given how abysmal the Irons have been with Paqueta in their side, they may somehow have been worse had he left.
Romano was heavily criticised by West Ham fans over the Paqueta story, which he had been pushing all summer.
But the transfer reporter insisted his information was coming from very credible sources and that Paqueta ‘liked the Villa project’.
In the end Paqueta stayed at the London Stadium and produced a memorable celebration to confirm he would be remaining during the 3-0 win at Forest, the club’s only victory so far this season.
Since then Paqueta has announced this will be his last season at West Ham.
There has been fresh speculation over his future.
But Paqueta has responded to claims he wants to leave West Ham in January.
The playmaker has been speaking this week about wanting to help be one of the team’s main leaders to help the Hammers survive.
Sherwood says Paqueta is so selfish he’s a ‘liability’ to West Ham
Paqueta also said having a Portuguese-speaking boss in Nuno has been a big help for him.
As far as Tim Sherwood is concerned, though, Paqueta is the first player Nuno should be offloading when the January window rolls around.
Sherwood says West Ham have a player who’s so selfish he’s a ‘liability’ in Paqueta.
The straight-talking pundit told Premier League Productions’ Team Talks that he would even offer to drop Paqueta off at his next club.
That’s despite rating him as a ‘top player’ in terms of ability.
“I would drive to any club he wants to go if we were getting the money for him and I’m in the position if we need to release some funds so we can spend it in other positions I would take him wherever he wants to go,” Sherwood said.
“I think he’s a real top player. But he’s a liability in the position where we are in the league.
“We need to get him further up the field. If they’re asking to do jobs in responsible positions of the field, which they aren’t at the moment.
“Paqueta plays for Paqueta. He doesn’t play for West Ham at the moment. And I think he’s great player. He’s he could potentially play for the Man City’s and Liverpool’s of this world and the Arsenal’s.
Sherwood: Paqueta great but he plays for himself not West Ham
“He’s got flavour. A lot of West Ham fans will be out there saying, well, he’s our best player. He probably is in the final third, but he’s probably the biggest liability you got when you’re asking him to do a responsible thing.
“So, you need to get a result in a game. At the moment, that’s what they need. They need people. Nuno needs people they can rely on.”
Paqueta’s record in terms of goals and assists is nowhere near as good as it should be for a player of his talent.
West Ham’s problem would be in adequately replacing Paqueta if and when they sell him.
One thing is for certain, if the Hammers are to stay up, they will need Paqueta to lead the way alongside the likes of Jarrod Bowen, Crysencio Summerville and a few others.
