West Ham United signed promising defensive midfielder Pierre Ekwah Elimby from Chelsea last week.
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The Hammers announced the signing of the 19-year-old – who can also play in defence – on a three-year deal, with the option for a further year (whufc.com).
Ekwah spent two weeks on trial with West Ham, featuring in the U23s’ final two Premier League 2 Division 1 matches of the 2020/21 season – both against Arsenal – scoring in the latter.
Hammers announce signing of Chelsea youngster for ‘undisclosed fee’
Described as a powerful defensive midfielder capable of dropping into the back line, Ekwah told whufc.com he was delighted to be continuing his development at West Ham and the Academy of Football.
West Ham remained tight-lipped about the ‘undisclosed’ fee they paid Chelsea for the new boy.
But now West Ham insider ExWHUemployee has lifted the lid on how much the Hammers paid Chelsea for Ekwah.
And Ex has also revealed the youngster was labelled as ‘lazy’ during his time at Stamford Bridge, a trait David Moyes simply will not tolerate.
Insider reveals how much West Ham had to pay Blues and says defender has a trait which Moyes will hate
So if Ekwah wants any chance to progressing to the first team he will have to change his ways fast.
“He’s joined us from Chelsea, he’s been training with us and on trial as such for about a month now and as I said in Tweets and on the podcasts there was a bit of a problem because they (Chelsea) wanted quite high compensation for him which we’ve now managed to agree,” Ex said on The West Ham Way podcast.
“I think the fee was about £1.5million… Obviously if he’s anywhere near as successful as another defensive midfielder/centre back that we got from Chelsea then we’re going to be laughing.
‘He has a little bit of a reputation for being a bit lazy’
“Hopefully he will turn out to be that player but we shall see. Apparently he’s technically very good, has a little bit of a reputation for being a bit lazy.
“But hopefully at West Ham we can get that out of him and actually let the quality shine through.”
Whether Ekwah has a reputation for being lazy in training or during matches is not clear.
Ekwah must take Pearce comments on board fast if he wants to be a success at West Ham
But either way Moyes simply will not tolerate it.
Stuart Pearce reiterated as much in an interview with talkSPORT this week when talking about signings being made this summer.
“For David to put his name to a player, he’s got to be sure that that player is the right one to fit into our environment,” Pearce said on talkSPORT.
“It’s a very work-orientated environment at West Ham, our running stats have gone through the roof since David arrived.
“There’s an expectation that everyone pulls their weight.”
Let’s hope Ekwah can change his reputation for the better and become a Hammers star.