West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini admitted that he made a mistake playing Fabian Balbuena on the opening day of the season, when speaking exclusively to Football.London.
The Paraguayan joined the Hammers from Corinthians in the summer of 2018 for a fee believed to be worth £6.5 million, according to Sky Sports.
And Balbuena, 28, proved to be an instant hit at the London Stadium.
He did miss around two months through injury last term, however, and he also missed large amounts of pre-season this summer.
Balbuena started West Ham’s opening Premier League game against Manchester City.
The Paraguay international seemed to be well off the pace. The Hammers shipped five goals against City. And they quite simply just didn’t look right defensively.
And Pellegrini admitted that that was a mistake, when speaking exclusively to Football.London:
“The reason was that Fabian Balbuena couldn’t work too much in the pre-season. He arrived from his national squad late and he played just one [full] game. That was my mistake to play with him in the first game because I trusted too much in what he can do, but it was too soon for him. Now he is trying to return to his normal performance, working hard.”
Balbuena will be hoping to return to his best both physically and mentally as soon as possible.
On his day, he is still arguably West Ham’s best defender, so his time will surely come again this season.
As things stand, however, Issa Diop and Angelo Ogbonna seem to be Manuel Pellegrini’s first-choice partnership.
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