West Ham United fans and expert Guillem Balague were proved right over Pablo Fornals on Saturday.
Hammers supporters have been perplexed by David Moyes’s treatment of Fornals since he returned to the club in December.
The Spaniard had been West Ham’s best player for two months before the Scot arrived.
But Fornals had been frozen out since the manager’s return and didn’t even make the squad against Manchester City recently.
Frozen out Fornals begins to thaw
Fornals showed Moyes he is up for the fight with an excellent display and goal when he replaced the injured Tomas Soucek at Anfield.
And he backed it up with another superb performance and two assists as he started in West Ham’s 3-1 win over Southampton.
Fornals proved West Ham fans were right to call for his inclusion.
But the playmaker’s display also gave credence to comments made by Spanish football expert Guillem Balague about Fornals when West Ham signed him for £24million in the summer.
Balague proved spot on with Fornals assessment
“Brilliant signing, 23-years-old,” Balague said at the time on Twitter.
“In the mould of a FCB (Barcelona) midfielder, genius in the pass, drives the ball with quality.
“Big gaps in concentration without ball but can be added to his game. Winning mentality.”
Both passes for the goals from Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio were perfectly timed and weighted.
Pablo a certain starter for West Ham’s run in?
Perhaps the gaps in concentration were picked up by Moyes before he came in?
And if he has been drilling that into the midfielder in training it certainly showed too.
Fornals worked his socks off for the team, getting back and defending before helping to launch attacks.
The Spaniard showed why he is so highly rated in his home country. And Fornals is now a certain starter for the relegation run-in.
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