Brazilian reporters explain how West Ham wasted Luis Guilherme before £17m Sporting switch

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West Ham United may look back on Luis Guilherme’s forgettable Premier League career with a pang of regret, especially now the Brazil Under-20 starlet is scoring goals for Sporting Lisbon.

Guilherme has made a ‘superb’ start in Portugal since his £17 million January move.

He has already started more league matches for Sporting Lisbon [three] than he did in a year and a half at West Ham United. A first goal this side of the Atlantic would also arrive, in a 3-2 Taca da Portugal victory over AVS.

For South American expert Tim Vickery, the Hammers only have themselves to blame regarding Guilherme’s struggles in East London. They invested £25 million in a teenager who, Vickery feels, was simply not ready for such a move.

Now, the message coming out of Brazil is that not only did West Ham sign Guilherme far too early in his development, they also failed to platform him correctly when he arrived.

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Luis Guilherme never played in his best position for West Ham United

Guilherme’s first Sporting goal came when he was playing on the right-hand side of the attack. A position captain Jarrod Bowen held in lock and key at the London Stadium.

Sporting coach Rui Borges has already indicated that West Ham made a mistake utilising Guilherme wide on the left on the rare occasions when he did step onto the Premier League stage.

That is a point Eduardo Rodrigues and Paulo Vinicius Coelho, a pair of Brazilian reporters speaking to A Bola, emphatically agree with.

“Luis Guilherme wore the number ten shirt until he was in Palmeiras’ under-20 team,” explains Rodrigues. “He was modified by [coach] Abel Ferreira in the senior squad to play wider on the right, to cut inside and shoot, because long-range finishing is one of his main characteristics.

“He performs much better as a number ten than as a winger, not only on the left, where he’s not as decisive, but even on the right, where he’s already performing very well [for Sporting].”

“Luis Guilherme is better on the right wing in a 4-2-3-1 formation like Rui Borges’s,” agrees Coelho. “Playing as a kind of attacking midfielder, cutting inside and allowing the full-back to move up.

“With his left foot cutting inside, he makes the best decisions.

“In truth, he hardly played there [at West Ham]. And that’s one of the problems of Brazilian football; it discovers extraordinary players who go to Europe very early, but they don’t develop because they don’t play.”

Not only was Bowen keeping Guilherme out of his favoured right-wing role, Crysencio Summerville ensured that opportunities would remain at a premium on the other flank. And the writing was on the wall once it became apparent that Nuno Espirito Santo was determined to reunite with his former Wolves favourite Adama Traore at the London Stadium.

After three substitute appearances, Traore could make his full West Ham debut in the FA Cup fourth-round clash with Burton Albion.

Mateus Fernandes told Guilherme to join Sporting Lisbon

Speaking to DAZN this week, meanwhile, Portugal Under-21 captain and Sporting academy graduate Mateus Fernandes admitted he encouraged Guilherme to swap London for Lisbon.

A move which suited all parties, on reflection.

“The locker room is fantastic and Sporting has all the conditions [for Guilherme to succeed there],” Fernandes said.

“The Portuguese League is the best championship in Europe for a young player who needs confidence or playing time. Playing for Sporting or another big club, you’ll always have the ball, you’ll have many opportunities to shoot and attack.

“Plus, it’s a language he knows. The culture is practically the same [as in Brazil].

“I told him, ‘If you have that opportunity on the table, don’t think twice.’ He didn’t think twice and now he’s there.

“Luis told me at the time about Sporting’s interest. He was very enthusiastic and I tried to guide him in terms of home, what daily life was like in Portugal, the pressure from the fans and what the league is like.”