Julen Lopetegui allowed one player to leave West Ham United this summer who he should have kept.
And he kept someone who he undoubtedly should’ve sold.
Julen Lopetegui made some terrific signings for West Ham in the summer, and we definitely have a better squad now than when he took over.
The West Ham head coach brought in nine new players, and got rid of much of the deadwood at the London Stadium.
And it has been claimed that the Spaniard is still in the market to bring in at least one more signing on a free transfer.
Despite all of the brilliant new signings Lopetegui made, he still got one big decision very wrong in my opinion.
He should’ve moved one player on, and kept one who he allowed to leave.
West Ham head coach Julen Lopetegui sold the wrong player
Despite the brilliant summer transfer window, there were a few things that the Spaniard got wrong as far as I’m concerned.
He should have signed a talented young left-back and an explosive centre-forward with real pace.
However, one of his worst decisions was keeping Tomas Soucek and letting James Ward-Prowse leave the London Stadium.
West Ham signed Soucek for £19.1 million in the summer of 2020 (BBC), after his successful four-month loan spell at the London Stadium.
Despite the fact that he gives everything for the cause, he quite simply isn’t good enough to be a regular starter in the Premier League.
He’s been awful for us so far this season, whilst Ward-Prowse put in a mightily impressive performance for Nottingham Forest against Liverpool on Saturday.
Alan Shearer once described Ward-Prowse’s set-piece delivery as ‘world-class’ (The Guardian).
And I really think Lopetegui should have kept the 29-year-old Englishman, and sold Soucek instead.
Ward-Prowse far better than Soucek
Now, I’m not a huge fan of Ward-Prowse, but it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t offer more than Soucek.
He is a constant threat from corners and free-kicks, and he can actually pass a ball properly, unlike the Czech Republic international.
In 37 Premier League appearances for the Hammers last season, Ward-Prowse averaged a pass completion rate of 89.6%, whilst Soucek recorded a very poor 75.7% in the same amount of games.
The 29-year-old former Slavia Prague man has to be one of the very worst central midfield players in the league.
Sure, he scores the odd goal, puts his head in places others wouldn’t and is a really nice person, but he’s just not a very good footballer.
In my opinion, the style that Julen Lopetegui is trying to implement at West Ham would have been a far better fit for Ward-Prowse than it is for Soucek.
The Hammers midfielder slows us down in transition and time and time again he stops us from breaking quickly.
Keeping the Czech Republic international over the Englishman was a very big mistake in my opinion.
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