Pablo Fornals hasn’t seen much Premier League action since David Moyes took over at West Ham at the end of last year. Just 270 minutes in fact.
The Spaniard proved what he is capable of during his substitute appearance against Liverpool on Monday night, however.
And with Tomas Soucek now out for up to three weeks, the 24-year-old will surely be given a regular run of starts.
Fornals is a popular figure amongst the West Ham fans, and they have taken to Twitter, pleading with Moyes to start the midfielder week-in, week-out:
Should start every game always running after the ball looks lovely when he has it and always looks to create
— West Ham Centre ⚒ (@Westham_Centre) February 25, 2020
Dinosaur Dave has to play him…
— Ⓟⓗⓘⓛⓘⓟ 父 Ⓦⓘⓛⓚⓘⓝⓢⓞⓝ 父 (@PW57WHU) February 25, 2020
Starts every game
— FreeFornals (@FreeFornals) February 25, 2020
Should be starting along side Soucek, in place of Noble all day long. Has to start v Southampton 🙏⚒️
— ⚒ Andy B ⚒ (@northwesthammer) February 25, 2020
Has to play week in week out, has pace energy and gets better every game
— West Ham way or maybe not ⚒⚒⚒ (@ham_maybe) February 25, 2020
Should start a lot more games can spot a pass arrives late in the box works hard took a while to settle in but I think next season if we stay up and if he stays we will start to see the best of him
— will earle (@willearle_) February 25, 2020
Has to start simple as
— Stuart Dillon #GSBout (@StuartDillon1) February 25, 2020
Starts every game.
— Occam The Razor 🐟 (@OccamsRazor10) February 25, 2020
Our Best player right now
— Curtis (@Cxrtiss) February 25, 2020
He needs to start.
— Denise Hardy (@Denny2hammers) February 25, 2020
Very underrated, he has quality on the ball, very creative and he is full on energy. Don’t think he is a winger tho, number 10 role would suit him perfect. Needs trust from moyes to shine tho
— Fearghal Mc Garrity (@westhamfan8) February 25, 2020
criminally underrated by moyes
— Stephen George Lott (@stephenlott) February 26, 2020
Need to play every game. Behind a front 2
— ⚒Nicola⚒ (@PrettyBubbles65) February 25, 2020
Needs to be playing regularly
— A.J.K (@drewzle69) February 25, 2020
He’s a geaT little player. I’d play him from the start.
— Barry Scott (@HappydaysBarry) February 25, 2020
Not respected enough by Moyes
— ⚒Don Raphael⚒💯 (@Reeko007) February 25, 2020
Fornals has really impressed in east London
The 24-year-old joined West Ham from Villarreal in the summer of 2019 for around £24 million (BBC).
And he has gone on to rack up four goals and three assists in 29 appearances for the Hammers thus far (Who Scored).
Fornals’ work-rate is exceptional and his defensive responsibility for an attacking player really has been impressive to watch this season.
If West Ham are to stay up this season, they need the Spaniard to be at his very best between now and May. But Moyes needs to start him regularly in order for that to happen.
The other thing that the Scot needs to do is play Fornals centrally. He showed at Anfield how much more effective he can be when deployed in the middle of the park rather than out on the wing.
Whether Moyes has the bravery and foresight to play Fornals there regularly, however, remains to be seen.