Maxwel Cornet may have thought he had left the bad luck behind when leaving West Ham United and the Premier League over the summer, but a miserable start to the Serie A season with Genoa proves that bad fortune transcends borders.
Almost everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong in Liguria for the luckless Ivorian.
Maybe it’s time Maxwel Cornet buys Lady Luck a huge bouquet of flowers and grovels for forgiveness. Nothing is going his way right now. In fact, very little has since Cornet joined West Ham United in a £17.5 million deal three-and-a-bit years ago.
The brilliant volleys and the bludgeoning performances of his Burnley days feel like lightyears ago now. As does the form which earned Cornet that big-money switch to East London in the first place.
The West Ham misfit’s injury issues persisted throughout last season’s loan spells at Southampton and Genoa. He started only three league matches combined at both clubs in 2024/25.
If Patrick Vieira had not remained in the Genoa hotseat over the summer – the Arsenal legend pushed for Cornet’s arrival in January and was the driving force behind his return as well – it is not hard to imagine him being stuck in the Hammers reserves.
Little more than a reported £65,000 drain on their resources. Cornet even lost his shirt number to Luis Guilherme. Fortunately, Vieira and Genoa were willing to go where seemingly other clubs did not dare to tread, eventually offering Cornet the escape route he was looking for in the shape of a second loan spell with the Grifone.
If he thought last season was frustrating though, 2025/26 is taking his misery to new heights.
West Ham United loanee Maxwel Cornet cannot escape Genoa nightmare
It had the feeling of a turning point when Genoa were awarded a penalty during October 19th’s meeting with Parma.
Vieira’s team had picked up only one point from their first three Serie A matches. Cornet had featured on the bench just once, meanwhile, following the latest in a series of seemingly never-ending injury blows.
Now, on his first appearance of the campaign and with Genoa pleading for a first win, Cornet placed the ball down, 12 yards out from goal, and took the responsibility upon his shoulders.
Zion Suzuki – the goalkeeper linked with West Ham over the summer – guessed right. That longed-for victory slipped through Genoa’s grasp.
Two games and ten days later, Vieira was gone. The coach who supported Cornet so vocally throughout a year beset with setbacks sacked.
Patrick Vieira sacked as Roma icon Daniele de Rossi prepares to replace him
While West Ham made their worst league start in 52 years, this is Genoa’s worst-ever beginning to a Serie A season. To think, had Cornet found a way past Suzuki, the Grifone would have a win on the board and Vieira may still be in a job.
Fine margins indeed.
“When we think about the emotional aspect, we immediately think about the missed penalty,” Vieira said after Suzuki burnished his reputation as one of Europe’s best young shot-stoppers.
“[But] if we think rationally, we see that Cornet has brought energy and quality. He is physically fine. I saw him determined [to perform at his best].
“He still has that missed penalty inside him, and he wants to go out and give his all. That is what I have seen from him.”
Daniele de Rossi, the Roma legend and former Italy stalwart, is expected to take Vieira’s place at the Estadio Luigi Ferraris.
With Cornet still in the grip of the curse which has haunted him ever since joining West Ham – he was included in Tuttomercatoweb’s Flops of the Week after the 2-0 home defeat by Cremonese which sealed Vieira’s fate – De Rossi may have to take on the role of exorcist as well as head coach.
