6 days ago
5 
West Ham United have come under fire for their poor recruitment this summer as Guido Rodriguez was singled out for criticism by Guardian journalist Jacob Steinberg on X.
Rodriguez had impressed during his time in La Liga, and was even close to joining clubs like Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at points in the recent past.
Still, those deals didn’t work out and Rodriguez ended up making the move to the London Stadium this summer, where he’s found it a bit of a struggle to adapt to the pace of the game in the Premier League.
Steinberg took to X, formerly Twitter, to slam Rodriguez’s performance in the 3-0 defeat to Chelsea, while he also questioned other signings in that position since the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal last year…
West Ham’s recruitment … 30yo midfielder signed on a free from La Liga struggling with pace of the PL, hooked before half time in fifth game … who could have predicted it
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) September 21, 2024

 
Big problem for West Ham for a long time was a lack of pace and physicality in midfield. Moyes sorted it with Rice and Soucek. It’s amazing they’ve reverted to slow and ponderous since the sale of Rice. Alvarez overrated. Constantly out of position, booked too much.
— Jacob Steinberg (@JacobSteinberg) September 21, 2024
West Ham fans will hope this is just a slow start by new manager Julen Lopetegui and some of the new signings, as there’s surely still plenty of room for improvement once everyone settles in in this new-look squad under a new regime.
Rodriguez won’t have just become a bad player over night, and even if he is finding it hard adjusting to his new surroundings and new teammates, it seems a bit harsh to write him off this soon.
At the same time, however, one imagines the Hammers could have been a little smarter with their recruitment, and brought in someone younger, or with a bit more Premier League experience.
