Video shows Brazilian defender Luizao make his first West Ham appearance after signing on a free transfer from Sao Paulo.
As many West Ham fans will be aware, head of recruitment Rob Newman has been spending time in Brazil networking with clubs with a view to cherry picking top young talent.
That bore fruit in the form of West Ham’s first signing of the January window, Luizao.
There was excitement around the capture with the 20-year-old said to be highly rated in Brazil.
With Craig Dawson’s future uncertain, Angelo Ogbonna likely in his final season and both Nayef Aguerd and Kurt Zouma injury prone, West Ham were in need of a new centre-back.
A slight dampener was put on the arrival when West Ham confirmed the 6ft 2in young star was being signed initially for the club’s development team.
The hope – as with any player in the academy – is clearly that Luizao will progress and become part of the first team squad.
And he took his first step towards that goal at the weekend.
Video shows Brazilian defender Luizao make his first West Ham appearance after signing on a free transfer from Sao Paulo.
West Ham’s development side took on Everton on Friday night and came away with a 2-1 victory.
And video highlights of the game on West Ham’s YouTube channel show Luizao playing his first match in claret and blue as a second half substitute.
Luizao can be seen in central defence from around the 4min 30secs mark wearing the number 12 and orange boots. You can watch the video below.
There is not much footage of him in action but the two clips show him encouraging his teammates.
He does get caught under a curling cross which almost resulted in an Everton equaliser but it was the West Ham full-back who had lost his man so Luizao was not necessarily at fault.
Let’s hope he can shine for Mark Robson’s academy side and progress quickly into a first team player for West Ham.
He could certainly come in handy as the season progresses.
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