The Athletic’s Roshane Thomas has recently made a claim about West Ham United’s Algerian winger Said Benrahma.
Since his arrival on loan from Brentford with an obligation for the move to be made permanent, the attacker has made just two Premier League appearances for the Irons (per Transfermarkt).
Both of those appearances have only been substitute outings and have seen him earn a weak 6.34/10 average rating across the two games (per WhoScored).
That rating has made the 25-year-old winger the sixth-worst performer to feature for David Moyes’ side in the top flight so far this term.
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s U Irons podcast, Thomas made a claim regarding Benrahma and why he may have had limited playing time since his arrival thus far.
He said: “I feel that’s another reason why Moyes is just reluctant to put Benrahma in the starting XI right now – Benrahma perhaps not being as good defensively as the likes of [Pablo] Fornals and [Jarrod] Bowen are.
“We’ve seen previously Moyes being reluctant to put Championship players in at the start.
“He wants them to at least learn the system, find their way a little bit and when they’re ready, they’ll be involved, and I think that’ll be the case with Benrahma.”
TIF Thoughts on what Roshane Thomas said about Said Benrahma…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he believes that the Algerian’s defensive abilities may be one reason that is keeping him out of West Ham’s starting lineup at the moment.
The reporter also seemed to think that Moyes is attempting to bed the player in before he gets many minutes because he has come from the Championship.
Do you agree with Moyes' strategy regarding bedding Benrahma in before starting him?
Yes, it's better to be safe
No, he should be starting
As listed by WhoScored, a weakness of the £19.8m-rated Algerian is his defensive contributions, while Bowen’s and Fornals’ weaknesses are elsewhere.
So, perhaps the journalist has a point in stating that Benrahma’s defensive ability may be a factor in keeping him out of the team, and it may therefore be a while yet before he becomes a Hammers regular.