Handed a rare West Ham United start during the FA Cup fifth-round victory over Brentford, Adama Traore could feature on Nuno Espirito Santo’s team sheet more regularly if Crysencio Summerville’s injury fears are confirmed.
Nuno confirmed Summerville will be assessed after picking up a knock in the second-half of extra time at the London Stadium.
Hammers News have since been informed that the former Leeds winger has suffered a calf issue, rather than a repeat of the hamstring strain which kept him on the sidelines for eight months last year.
If Summerville is out, who do YOU want to see start on the left?
Needless to say, considering that Crysencio Summerville is West Ham United’s leading goalscorer in 2026 with seven goals in 11 games, even a short spell without him in the team would be a very untimely blow to their survival prospects.
But perhaps Adama Traore could still have a very important role to play.
Adama Traore’s left-wing record is a boost for Nuno and West Ham United
Traore played mostly on the right-hand side of the Wolverhampton Wanderers attack under Nuno. But the stats show that, when utilised on the left by his current West Ham boss, the £2 million January signing from Fulham actually generated greater returns than when on the right.
In seven appearances on the left under Nuno, Traore provided four goal contributions. One of those came in a 3-2 defeat by West Ham in 2021, a game best remembered for Jesse Lingard’s sensational solo effort.
It was Traore at his most fearsomely effective. Starting deep inside his own half, the Spanish speedster left Mark Noble for dead and then breezed past Vladimir Coufal before assisting a Leander Dendoncker header.
Only 20 per cent of his 27 Premier League assists have been supplied by his left foot, but this does not mean he isn’t still capable of putting dangerous balls into the mixer from either flank. He may be required to do just that in the immediate future – starting with Saturday’s home clash with title-challengers Manchester City – if Summerville faces a spell on the sidelines.
“This is a different injury. Last time, it was [Summerville’s] hamstring,” a source close to the board tells Hammers News. “This time, he has felt something in his calf somewhere.”
When was the last time a West Ham player excited you so much?! 😍
Traore produced his best Hammers performance against Brentford
The good news is that Summerville did manage to last the final few minutes on Monday night. He certainly appeared to be moving a lot quicker when setting up a late chance for Taty Castellanos, though he would not take one of the five penalties in the resulting shoot-out.
The concern, of course, will be that Summerville risked making the issue worse by attempting to run through the pain.
Though he would be replaced by the flying Dutchman at half-time, this was arguably Adama Traore’s most impressive performance yet in a Hammers shirt. Traore won the penalty converted by Jarrod Bowen in the 35th minute, squeezing his body between the ball and a clumsy Michael Kayode.
There was one particularly impressive burst of acceleration earlier in the piece. The former Barcelona winger spun away from a high-press and drove with purpose towards the Brentford goal. His shot was wayward, as his end product often is, but Traore appeared to relish the freedom to drift infield from the left-hand side.
When positioned on the right, he often finds himself stuck to the touchline, chalk covering his boots.
It is a big ask expecting Traore to emulate Summerville’s terrific goals tally if he steps in for the Rotterdam-born dynamo. He has as many goals in 124 games as Summerville has in his last eleven.
But previous left-wing outings under Nuno, and a much livelier performance in Summerville’s usual position against Brentford, at least gives this dark cloud a slight silver lining.
Furthermore, with Bowen back in goalscoring form, with Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe looking livelier and Tomas Soucek always a threat in the final third, maybe the Hammers need not rely on Summerville as much as they have been in recent weeks.
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