Ex West Ham star Felipe Anderson is on fire for Lazio as a he takes a subtle dig at Hammers boss David Moyes.
It is fair to say West Ham’s decision to allow Brazilian Anderson to leave last summer divided some fans.
Especially when it emerged the £35m signing was being allowed to rejoin Lazio for next to nothing.
Ex West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini paid a then club record fee to bring Anderson to West Ham during the summer splurge of 2018.
And he enjoyed a sensational debut season, scoring nine goals and laying on four assists for his West Ham teammates.
That was as good as it got for Anderson in east London, though.
Despite playing and scoring in a 4-0 win over Bournemouth on David Moyes’ return to West Ham in 2020, it was clear the Scot never fancied the winger.
He was shipped out on loan to Porto then allowed to join former club Lazio for a knockdown fee by Moyes last summer.
Anderson has been back to something like his best in Italy scoring 11 goals and laying on 11 assists in 53 games since with an excellent average match rating of more than 7/10.
Ex West Ham star Anderson is on fire for Lazio as a he takes a subtle dig at Hammers boss Moyes.
The Brazilian was deployed as a striker and scored a beautiful goal in Lazio’s 2-0 win at Atalanta – who tasted defeat for the first time this season.
Ex West Ham star Felipe Anderson on fire for Lazio as a he takes a subtle dig at Hammers boss David Moyes
The victory saw Mauricio Sarri’s side move up to third in Serie A and Anderson has been one of their players of the season so far.
It was the ex West Ham man who grabbed all the headlines after the game for his brilliant display, goal and growing influence on Lazio’s fledgling title challenge.
And Anderson says he is back to his best because now he has a manager who believes in him.
“We’ve been working together for a while now, the first season didn’t go the way we expected, but we proved how focused and aggressive we were from the start, fighting for every ball,” Felipe Anderson told DAZN, as reported by Football Italia.
“I am accustomed to learning every movement in attack. (Ciro) Immobile is one of the best strikers in Europe when it comes to his movement off the ball, so I always watched him and learned so much.
“The coach asks a lot of me and puts his faith in me, so that is what I need to give my all in any position where I am used.”
Without naming Anderson, the inference from Moyes when he shipped the Brazilian and others out of West Ham, was that he only wanted players who were willing to put a shift in and graft for the team.
It is clear that attitude and workrate was exactly what West Ham required to get them out of the relegation mire back in 2020.
But as West Ham have evolved it is perhaps ironic that Anderson might fit perfectly into the current side alongside the likes of compatriot Lucas Paqueta and striker Gianluca Scamacca.
Perhaps Moyes could have done a job with Anderson and converted him into a forward on occasion, like Sarri is doing with him at Lazio.
There’s no use crying over spilt milk as they say. But given Anderson has only ever had positive things to say about West Ham since his departure, we wish him continued success at our Italian sister club.
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