There are, perhaps, a few West Ham United players who could look back on the start of the new Premier League campaign and describe one of their outings as ‘the worst match of my life’.
Mads Hermansen’s during the 5-1 drubbing by Chelsea, in particular, comes to mind.
Max Kilman, Jean-Clair Todibo, Nayef Aguerd and Konstantinos Mavropanos had their fair share of nightmare moments during a brutal few weeks as well.
Even reigning Hammer of the Year Aaron Wan-Bissaka was ‘terrible’ in that Chelsea debacle. Arguably at fault for the visitor’s first three goals at the London Stadium. And the less said about a certain £30 million midfielder – Nuno Espirito Santo dropped James Ward-Prowse from the squad ahead of Monday’s 1-1 draw with Everton – the better.
Still, no one at West Ham United has plumbed to the depths of Maxime Esteve’s despair. The Burnley defender joined a very exclusive Premier League club for all the wrong reasons during their 5-1 dismantling by Manchester City on Saturday.
West Ham United-linked Maxime Esteve scores two own goals in Burnley defeat
Just days after Hammers News reported that sporting director Mark Noble was a fan of Scott Parker and the job his former teammate was doing at Burnley, one of the Nuno alternatives on that post-Graham Potter shortlist suffered perhaps his most punishing afternoon in the Clarets hotseat.
Burnley are not the first newly-promoted team to be steamrollered by Erling Haaland and Manchester City, of course. But it was the nature of that defeat – and Maxime Esteve’s inadvertently central role – which left a sour taste.
Only five players in Premier League history had ever scored two own goals in the same match; Jamie Carragher, Michael Proctor, Jonathan Walters, Wout Faes and, most recently, West Ham fan favourite Craig Dawson during Wolves’ 4-0 defeat by Everton in December 2024.
Esteve is now the sixth, at the scene of the crime not once but twice at the Etihad Stadium.
“Definitely the worst match of my life,” a devastated Esteve wrote on Instagram before West Ham drew level with Burnley on four points. “We share and experience wonderful moments, but we have to accept the more difficult ones and learn from them to ensure they don’t happen again.
“Thank you for your messages of support and, once again, I’m sorry.”
Esteve’s nightmare complete as he set up Erling Haaland for Manchester City’s fifth
According to reports, West Ham showed an interest in Maxime Esteve back in 2024, shortly after Burnley’s relegation. The allegedly £30 million-rated Frenchman was linked with the Hammers again in the summer just gone.
Talk of a reunion with former Turf Moor coach Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich was even floated for a brief period.
As he undid all of Martin Dubravka’s good work by volleying a bizarre clearance into his own net to gift Man City the lead, this was a piece of defending that would have left Aguerd and Mavropanos red-faced, let alone Kim Min-Jae and Jonathan Tah.
Arguably worse was to follow.
With Burnley now 2-1 down but still in the contest, this time Esteve swung a hopeful right boot at a fizzing cross, only to send it spinning into the bottom corner of his own net.
The former Montpellier man would not become the first player in Premier League history ever to score a hat-trick of own goals but, as he collided with fellow centre-back Hjalmar Ekdal to set Haaland away for a second of two stoppage-time strikes, Esteve certainly staked a claim for the worst individual performance by any defender in recent history.
And, from a West Ham perspective, this is saying something.
Receive a digest of our best West Ham content each week direct to your mailbox
