With every impressive Andreas Schjelderup performance, Jose Mourinho will feel even more vindicated about the decision to block a January departure for the West Ham United target turned Benfica favourite.
The Hammers reportedly held talks with Schjelderup early on in the January transfer window.
At the time, Mourinho clearly had reservations about Benfica’s Norwegian schemer, feeling that he lacked the physicality to cope with the ‘intensity’ and a counter-attacking game.
Flash forward to early-March, though, and it is fair to say Andreas Schjelderup is winning over the most hard-to-please manager in the game.
When was the last time a West Ham player excited you so much?! 😍
Not that West Ham United will be too disappointed as to how events unfolded. Schjelderup looked suspiciously like a potential Crysencio Summerville replacement when reports of those talks first emerged, via Gianluca di Marzio. Another right-footed left winger who likes to cut in and drift between the lines.
Now, Nuno Espirito Santo’s flying Dutchman is as irreplaceable as they come.
Crysencio Summerville and Andreas Schjelderup shine for West Ham United and Benfica
While a ‘magnificent’ Summerville fired West Ham past Fulham at Craven Cottage – shimmying his way to goal after Jarrod Bowen took advantage of a mix-up in the home backline – Schjelderup’s late winner kept Benfica alive in the Primeira Liga title race.
“I think he’s better today than he was months ago,” a delighted Mourinho told A Bola, Schjelderup’s strike at Gil Vicente his fourth in eight games. “I think that’s something important for a player, to feel that the coach likes him.
“It’s important in terms of self-esteem, in terms of confidence. But he knows that I really like this Schjelderup and he knows that I didn’t like the Schjelderup I saw [before] at all.”
Confidence is a helluva thing.
Schjelderup jump-started his Benfica career while stunning Real Madrid just a few days before the close of the winter window.
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His Estadio da Luz brace against the 15-time European champions might have been overshadowed by a last-gasp header from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin, but this feels like the turning point in his relationship with the once-disapproving Mourinho.
“What has changed? A lot has changed,” Mourinho added. “From a defensive point of view, he now has an important understanding of how to defend zonally. I think he defends well. He’s not an aggressive player, he’s not a defensive player, but he has transformed into a player with good tactical concepts and interprets them well.
“I think he feels important. That he feels the coach likes him, that he has confidence in him, I think that’s something that has improved his self-esteem.”
Summerville’s own post-New Year transformation, meanwhile, was ignited by an FA Cup strike against Queens Park Rangers. He’s barely stopped scoring since.
In fact, from the moment Summerville fired Nuno’s side ahead in North London on January 17th, West Ham have picked up 12 more points than Tottenham and eight more than 17th place Nottingham Forest.
Just think, there is a world in which West Ham replace Summerville with Schjelderup, the Dutchman never hits the goal trail, and Benfica bomb out of the Champions League.
No wonder Mourinho and Nuno are happy with how things turned out.
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