West Ham United sealed a real coup in the summer by signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Manchester United.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka moved to the London Stadium six months ago, and the £15 million we spent on him now looks like an unbelievable bargain.
On the most part, Wan-Bissaka has been a big hit with West Ham.
He wasn’t at his best under Julen Lopetegui, due to being played in a more advanced role, and he actually publicly criticised the former Hammers boss.
Wan-Bissaka has already made huge improvements since Graham Potter replaced Lopetegui though.
West Ham head coach Potter has already raved about the 27-year-old defender, describing him as ‘really, really good’.
I now expect the former Manchester United and Crystal Palace right-back to really kick on.
One thing’s for sure, we can all help him and his teammates out by making some real noise during our home games.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka makes staggering London Stadium claim
The Hammers defender will be crucial to Potter’s hopes of overseeing some genuine progress at the London Stadium.
However, the West Ham fans will be as well.
The atmosphere inside the London Stadium during our defeat to Brentford was verging on toxic at times.
The majority of Hammers fans cannot stand our Stratford ‘home’. We were sold the move under false pretences, but there’s nothing we can do about that now.
An interesting way to look at it is by asking the question, what do the players think of the London Stadium?
It seems like the stadium is looked upon in a far better light by the players than it is the fans.
Wan-Bissaka spoke to WHUFC.com, and responded when asked what he has enjoyed most during his first six months in East London:
“Making London Stadium our home. It’s a beautiful stadium. Before I joined, I had played here but was on the other end, so to experience it on this end is very special and has been an incredible feeling.”
Well, he has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons with those comments hasn’t he!
Wan-Bissaka’s London Stadium comments mean one thing for West Ham
So here’s the thing.
If the players think our home ground is special, then we just all need to move on from Upton Park and make the most of it.
There’s no harm in reminiscing about our famous old home, but the Hammers fans need to make the best of our current situation.
Whilst the London Stadium is poorly designed from an acoustic point of view, the West Ham fans are certainly capable of generating an atmosphere inside of it.
Just looks at the games against Chelsea in 2016, Tottenham in 2017, Liverpool in 2021, Sevilla in 2022 and Bayer Leverkusen only 10 months ago.
The place was absolutely rocking during those games.
However, the club need to help us out. How about designated safe standing singing only areas? That would be a start at least.
The bottom line is that West Ham need to make the London Stadium a fortress if we are to make genuine progress.
And Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s comments prove that there are no excuses for the club, or the fans now.
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