Former football now pundit Trevor Sinclair has praised the ‘effort’ and ‘courage’ of West Ham United man Andriy Yarmolenko after his recent display.
The Ukrainian forward had not played for the Hammers since the outbreak of war in his home country, but was introduced from the bench against Aston Villa over the weekend.
The game was 0-0 at the time, but Yarmolenko opened the scoring with a fine goal as his team managed to claim a tight 2-1 victory at home.
In light of his impact, Sinclair took to Twitter to praise the goalscorer, admitting his past criticism of the player had been proven wrong.
He wrote: “I criticized Yarmolenko’s effort a few weeks ago so want to give him massive praise after his goal. He’s shown amazing courage in the light of what is going in his homeland of Ukraine so feel me & many hammers fans should recognize his contribution today.”
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TIF thoughts on Andriy Yarmolenko and West Ham…
In that past, Sinclair has certainly been on the record as doubting what Yarmolenko can bring to the West Ham side. Indeed, on TalkSPORT (via The Boot Room) he suggested the Ukrainian wasn’t good enough to play upfront for the club.
He said: “Yarmolenko, as good as he is on the right-wing coming in on his left foot, he’s not quite good enough as a striker in that number nine shape.”
However, having come off the bench to replace striker Michail Antonio in this game, Yarmolenko clearly proved he still has plenty to offer. Considering the troubles in his own country right now, this is certainly a remarkable show of courage and commitment to get on the pitch and make a difference.
Taking it all into account, it’s easy to see why Sinclair has changed his opinion on the Hammer of late.
In other news: He’s frightening: GSB almost secured big upgrade on Moyes favourite at West Ham – opinion