With Ricardo Vaz Te getting injured at the weekend, is it time that Maiga was given his chance to prove himself. Since David Gold has said that RVT could be out for up to 10 weeks this could prove to Maiga’s big chance. This could perhaps shape him into the type of striker that West Ham need, the type that lacks finishing ability.
Modibo Maiga seemed like quite a tidy little transfer when West Ham signed him in the summer. He was previously looked at by Newcastle where he was in quite advanced negotiations with them, but he failed a medical with them leading to us signing him in January. Now by no means is this a bad thing that he failed a medical because a few years ago we signed a player who had just failed a medical with Stoke by the name of Demba Ba. Demba Ba has since gone on to prove himself as a very capable Premier League striker since activating his release clause following West Ham’s relegation.
Mr Maiga started off his career in Ligue 1 with Le Mans in the 2007/2008 season, where he played only 4 games. The next season he made much more of an impact playing 38 games and scoring 8 goals. During that same season he made his international debut for Mali when he came on as a substitute. The next season he played less games but scoring the same amount of goals, one of them in a cup game. Then in the 2010/2011 season he moved to Sochaux where he scored many more goals, 15 in 37 games. He also made more Mali appearances, however only 2 more. In his final season in the French league he made 25 appearances scoring 9 goals.
So that brings us to this season where he has made only 4 substitute appearances in the Premier League. However in the cup he has impressed scoring 2 goals in 2 games he has started. This goal tally actually makes him the highest scoring striker in our team. So does this prove that given his chance that he will score, possibly, but it was only the cup and we don’t actually know what he like in the Prem. Now though is the perfect time to see what he is like though with RVT out, and with Carlton Cole not looking as if he will score any time soon.
Could he be the new Demba Ba, what with his failed medical? Could he be that missing link?