If West Ham United fans did not love Pablo Fornals enough already they certainly will now.
Fornals has become a huge fan favourite at West Ham with his excellent and passionate performances since signing from Villarreal for £24 million under Manuel Pellegrini.
When David Moyes first took over from the Chilean in January 2020, Fornals found himself at something of a crossroads.
He was dropped from the West Ham squad entirely for a game against Manchester City.
But versatile Fornals won his place back in the team and has rarely found himself out of it since,.
The Spaniard has become one of the first names on Moyes’s teamsheet each week by admission of the manager himself.
The 25-year-old scored his second goal in as many games in the 2-2 daw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
And now in a new interview he has done with Spanish YouTube channel La Media Inglesa, Fornals says he is so happy at West Ham he wants to retire at the club.
The Hammers hero also revealed how selfless captain Mark Noble played a massive role in convincing Moyes to give him his chance in the team.
“I’m going to thank him all my life (Noble),” Fornals told La Media Inglesa in Spanish as transcribed here by Hammers News.
“The coach had doubts and asked the captain whether to put one or the other. The captain looked me in the eye and said: ‘Put Pablo’…
“I had conversations during my time in Malaga in which I did not accept to play in positions other than the center of the field. Now, ‘Do you mind Pablo if I put you on the left wing?’ (I reply) ‘Mister (Spanish term for manager) am I going to be on the field? Yes. Put me where you want’…
“Yes, now I am at that point where I am delighted here and I would stay until the end of my career because I am delighted. But I understand that the dressing room also does that, the teammates do it.”
What a man.
Fornals’s brilliant, infectious attitude shines through in the interview – even in Spanish.
West Ham fans can watch Fornals’s full interview with La Media Inglesa with English auto subtitles available, although some of the translation is a bit hit and miss.
In other news, PAI release new statement and lay down gauntlet to West Ham owners over transfers.
And Rio Ferdinand and Trevor Sinclair in bust-up over reported West Ham target.
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