West Ham United presenter Dave Walker has been sharing his thoughts on Hammers winger Said Benrahma and his future at the east London club.
This comes after Walker co-hosted a recent episode of The West Ham Way Podcast, where he spoke about a variety of topics and talking points concerning David Moyes’ team.
On the subject of Benrahma, who grabbed a goal and an assist during West Ham’s recent 4-2 win over Newcastle United during their opening game of the 2021/22 Premier League season at St. James’ Park, Walker had this to say about the winger.
He said: “Benrahma, who was my man of the match, [is] someone I think could be massive for us – but he needs games.
“This is a problem, this is something that slightly worries me about the transfer window and talks with Jesse Lingard. I’d love to have Jesse back at West Ham, I really would.
“But I don’t want it at the detriment of Benny, because last season, I was saying this on a podcast – he’s got something about him.
“He really has got something about him, but every player needs games. You can’t expect too much from a player who’s only playing 20 minutes here, 20 minutes there and then there’s talks of ‘Moyes don’t fancy him’.
“He needs to be backed, he needs to have a steady run in the team, week in, week out to really reach his full potential and I thought he was just different class [against Newcastle].”
TIF Thoughts on Dave Walker’s comments on Benrahma…
Given how the Algerian winger got his season off to a fine start with his performance against Newcastle that saw him receive a solid match rating of 8/10 from the Evening Standard, making him the highest-rated West Ham player on the day alongside Declan Rice, it’s understandable why Walker has some concerns over his playing time this season, considering he only completed 90 minutes in the league on two occasions in their last campaign.
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However, that the winger was only named as an unused substitute twice in the Premier League last season suggests to us that he is seen as a useful player at West Ham whether Jesse Lingard is at the club or not.
Moving forward, if West Ham do end up signing Lingard from Manchester United this summer, then we feel this could potentially have some sort of impact on Benrahma’s playing time this season based on how impressive the Englishman was during his loan spell last season, where he ended the campaign as their second-highest-rated player according to WhoScored with an overall performance rating of 7.22/10.
But perhaps Benrahma’s form this term could force Moyes into a reshuffle should he find more room for the Algerian in the first XI.
In other news: ‘Been on West Ham’s radar in the past’ – Insider tips WHUFC to make run at £22.5m-rated defender