Former England striker Darren Bent has suggested that West Ham United should look to move midfielder Carlos Sanchez out of the club in the near future.
The Colombian joined the Hammers in the summer of 2018, but has found appearances difficult to come by with both Declan Rice and Mark Noble ahead of him in the pecking order. Indeed, during his time at the club he has only played 17 times and in total has been on the pitch for just 588 minutes (Transfermarkt).
Clearly neither Manuel Pellegrini or David Moyes have felt that the 33-year-old is good enough to be a regular at the London Stadium and Bent has admitted that he doesn’t think that the former Aston Villa man is suited to Premier League football and may be better off leaving the club.
Speaking about Sanchez’s situation, Bent told Football Insider: “I know Carlos, I know him well, I was at Villa when they brought him in and he struggled for consistency there.
“He went to Spain and he came back and he’s a great guy but the Premier League is just not made for everybody. Maybe it’s a little bit too quick for him, maybe it’s a little bit too intense because you’ve got to be able to get around.
“Especially if you play that role, you look at people like (Wilfried) Ndidi, (Ngolo) Kante, even Declan Rice who gets about.
“In Spain you don’t really get too many people ratting around you – but in the Premier League it’s maybe a little bit too far for him. West Ham, they’re paying a bit of money for him – maybe they should look to recoup some of the money for him.”
Bent is probably right here. As mentioned, Sanchez has rarely played for the Hammers but when he has been on the pitch he simply hasn’t been good enough.
Indeed in his most recent start against West Brom in the FA Cup, the Colombian international lost possession eight times, won neither of his two aerial duels, was dribbled past on one occasion and made an error which ultimately led to the Baggies’ winning goal (SofaScore). He was hooked at half-time by Moyes due to his shocking performance.
Quite simply he isn’t good enough to play Premier League football for West Ham and at 33-years-old his best years are certainly behind him. With Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek on the verge of joining from Slavia Prague (BBC Sport) they already have a replacement too, so allowing Sanchez to leave would make sense.
West Ham fans, do you think that the club should look to sell Carlos Sanchez? Let us know in the comments below…
