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West Ham: Fans discuss if Pablo Fornals could be the next Dimitri Payet
With Pablo Fornals starting to show on the pitch why West Ham signed him in the first place, a lot of fans are now debating whether the highly-rated midfielder can reach the levels of former Hammer Dimitri Payet.
Fornals arrived in the summer from Villarreal for £25.20 million after an impressive U21 European Championship tournament with Spain and fans would have had a lot of expectations coming into the season given his price tag and aforementioned exploits. However, the 24-year-old had a poor start to the season and didn’t manage a goal contribution until his assist on the 30th of November against Chelsea.
Still, since David Moyes has come in, Fornals seems to have adjusted more to the league and has scored one and assisted 2 in his last two matches. Indeed, with injuries to other midfielders like Tomáš Souček, this is the Spaniard’s chance to show why he should be starting every week.
Payet, who plays in a similar position to Fornals, was loved by the Hammers and was key to their 7th placed finish in the 2015/16 season, where he was their top scorer with 12 goals. However, the French midfielder shocked fans when he handed in a transfer request, forcing a move to Ligue 1 side Marseille and left on bad terms.
Has David Moyes changed your mind in recent weeks?
Yes
No
With that in mind, here is what some fans are saying about the two players:
Can Pablo Fornals reach the level Payet did if we invested heavily in the team and avoided the drop? #WHUFC pic.twitter.com/aiVox5BzLu
— ⚒ COYIrons ⚒ (@COYIrons_com) March 4, 2020
I think Fornals could become a real special play for us and one that has more influence over the side than Payet. But they’re very different to compare, Payet was maverick.
— Rob Waldon WHUFC ⚒ (@RobWaldon) March 4, 2020
We will never witness another payet in our life time at West Ham 🤷🏼♂️
— JC (@irnbru_pappi) March 4, 2020
Not putting fornals down but no… payet was unbelievable, he could do it without the investment.
Payet, along with Di Canio are the best 2 players ive seen (In my life time) play for west ham
— Mark Le Masurier (@MarkWHUFC88) March 4, 2020
Nope. Nowhere near. Payet was a genius. Fornals, IMO, is ok, not half as good as some people on Twitter are saying.
— Mr R (@Happyhammer68) March 5, 2020
He’s a good young player with bags of talent but I think that’s a step to far!
— costahammer (@costahammer) March 4, 2020
Payet more entertaining to watch but Fornals has potential to be better in terms of goals & assists ratio. He looks like he’s capable of scoring or assisting every time he plays.
— Bill (@Briggs0102) March 4, 2020
West Ham fans, could Fornals be a better player than Payet was at the Irons?
