West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini is considering handing youngster Xande Silva a first-team call up against Crystal Palace on Saturday, according to Football London.
The 21-year-old, who joined the club from Vitória de Guimarães this summer, has recently return from a hamstring injury which kept him out for ten weeks.
He trained with the first team on Thursday, and is in Pellegrini’s thoughts ahead of the game. He is almost certain not to start the match, but is in contention to be included in the final 18.
Pellegrini has spoken glowingly of the Portuguese talent previously and he has impressed whenever he has played for the Hammers’ U-23’s side this season.
OPINION
Silva is undoubtedly a huge talent, but this feels a bit too early for the youngster. Not only has he only recently returned from injury, but he is still acclimating to English football and has no first-team experience to speak of with the Hammers. He has done brilliantly for the U-23’s this term, but perhaps that’s where he should stay, at least until he fully recovers from his injury. Marko Arnautovic’s setback means that Pellegrini is scrambling for a solution up front, but he has plenty of options in the first team squad. Lucas Perez and Javier Hernandez have both been in the goals over the past week, while Andy Carroll is now fit again, too. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for Silva to be handed a place on the bench against Palace, but it just feels like that might be rushing him a bit. Pellegrini has enough options already, so Silva should be allowed to continue his development with the U-23’s for now.