Second major boost for West Ham as official late night announcement sees Said Benrahma ditched for AFCON

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There’s a second major boost for West Ham as an official late night announcement sees Said Benrahma ditched for AFCON.

Earlier today we reported that West Ham had been boosted by Ivory Coast’s decision to snub Maxwel Cornet for the African Cup of Nations.

Hammers star man Mohammed Kudus could be missing until mid-February after the Brighton game with Ghana one of the favourites.

Nayef Aguerd is the same with Morocco.

But it means Cornet, who was on the bench at Arsenal, will now be available for West Ham just when they will need him most given Kudus’ absence and Lucas Paqueta’s injury.

He has also been linked with a move away in the January transfer window. So the fact he is not going to AFCON will also make it much easier to offload Cornet should David Moyes wish to raise necessary funds to invest in a new signing.

Said Benrahma was named in Algeria’s mammoth 50-man initial squad last week. And as we reported earlier it remained to be seen whether he made the final cut.

Nearly two weeks ago we reported on Hammers News that Benrahma and Cornet were both highly unlikely to go to AFCON.

And so it has proved.

There’s a second major boost for West Ham as an official late night announcement sees Benrahma ditched for AFCON.

It’s hardly a surprise given Algeria manager Djamel Belmadi controversially man-handled Benrahma during his last selection in October following a row over his substitution. Benrahma also fell out with striker Islam Slimani after taking a penalty off the former Leicester forward.

But like Cornet it means Benrahma will now be available for West Ham for them to either use or sell in January.

There are said to be a host of clubs interested in the winger’s services.

Benrahma saw a last gasp penalty saved in the 2-0 win over Arsenal.

The snubs for Cornet and Benrahma, while a great shame for the players, comes at an ideal time for West Ham – and could give both the perfect chance to save their Hammers careers or seek pastures new.