OPINION
Dean Ashton has been speaking about West Ham’s first season under Manuel Pellegrini as of late and keeps name-dropping the same player.
The former Hammers man keeps referring to how Andriy Yarmolenko is one of the positives to take from this season despite the winger spending most of the current campaign on the sidelines.
“There has been some good stories, Felipe Anderson, Yarmolenko before he got injured but again injury has played a part,” said Ashton on talkSPORT (Monday April 22nd, 9:43am).
Ashton then refereed to Yarmolenko being a highlight once again the following day when asked by Jim White how he thought the season had gone for Pellegrini’s team.
“The injuries have reared their ugly head again at West Ham which they had for many years and Yarmolenko was playing well before he got injured for the season,” stated the pundit on talkSPORT (12:38, Tuesday April 23rd).
It seems Ashton has put Yarmolenko on a pedestal with his fondness for the player clearly growing while he has been stuck on the sidelines.
As while the 29-year-old did show glimpses of his talent, he scored two goals in nine league appearances, he didn’t do enough to go down as one of the highlights of the season.
In fact in a few of his outings, some West Ham fans were likely questioning whether the club were right to sign Yarmolenko as he struggled at times.
Given that Yarmolenko hasn’t featured in the Premier League for the Hammers since October then he is often forgotten about, as it’s not like he made many outings this season after joining from Borussia Dortmund.
While the attacker clearly could be a success at the Hammers next season when fit, Ashton hyping him up so much is surely only going to end in disappointment.
The 29-year-old clearly hadn’t gotten 100% to grips with the Premier League ahead of his set-back so will need plenty of time to get up to speed, and there’s still no guarantee he isn’t built for the division after only a handful of good moments.
So when Yarmolenko returns to first-team action, he might not be the bright spark that Ashton’s remarks suggest he is.