In their summer splash before the season began, West Ham United had acquired Andriy Yarmolenko as a leader in their revolution under Manuel Pellegrini. Arriving with bags of experience, the Ukranian was supposed to be a perfect partner for Marko Arnautovic and a lethal goal-getter in the Premier League.
However, all that now seems like a distant dream. Yarmelonko, who was signed for roughly £18m (as per Transfermarkt) to add fireworks to the Hammers’ attack, hasn’t even appeared in more than six months. After suffering a horrible injury against Spurs in October, he’s been on the shelf for more than six months and is struggling to recover quickly due to it being an especially nasty one.
That being said, it’s not like Yarmelonko was lighting their attack on fire prior to that. Coming into the team with the added pressure of being the complete package in attack, the former Dortmund ace struggled to assert his authority in the Premier League.
As a matter of fact, he only scored two goals in nine appearances, that too a brace against Everton.
Operating on the right-wing, he displayed little creativity and couldn’t link with his attacking partners that well at all. While Arnautovic and fellow new-signing Felipe Anderson were setting West Ham’s attack on fire with their creativity and goal-scoring prowess, Yarmolenko struggles didn’t allow a holy trinity to be adorned in East London.
Now that the Hammers have brought in Samir Nasri as another creative lynchpin and also seemingly settled Michail Antonio onto the right, the future looks bleak for Yarmolenko. The Hammers were apparently (via Ukranian outlet Expres) already “sorry” for signing him for an inflated fee before this injury and it’s doubtful he can fit into Pellegrini’s plans anymore.
The painful Achilles tendon injury could be a career-breaker for Yarmolenko, who has a mountain to climb to get back to his best and prove his doubters wrong.
Hammers fans, would you give Yarmolenko more time to prove himself? Join the discussion by commenting below…
