West Ham United’s gain is starting to look like Monaco’s loss with regards to the deal which took Soungoutou Magassa from the French giants to the Premier League last month.
Only half an hour or so into his English football career, the £14 million acquisition has already made a positive first impression.
Soungoutou Magassa shone off the bench during his West Ham United debut last time out. Despite an eventual 3-0 defeat by bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur, the embattled Graham Potter felt there were a few positives.
And the new number 27 was certainly one of those.
Completing 92 per cent of his passes, making more tackles than all but El Hadji Malick Diouf, and denying Mohammed Kudus a potential insult-to-injury effort on his London Stadium return, Magassa – to quote Potter – ‘did well in difficult circumstances when he came on’.
And after his old club Monaco suffered a humiliating Champions League defeat by Club Brugge on Thursday night, the reason for his sale put forward by CEO Thiago Scuro holds little water in the eyes of a highly-frustrated Monegasque fanbase.
While West Ham will hope to benefit from Magassa’s ball-winning talents and his penchant for breaking up opposition forays, the Monaco midfield swamped by an energetic Club Brugge outfit certainly looked like one lacking a player of his off-the-ball talents.
Monaco fans fume at Soungoutou Magassa’s West Ham United move amid Champions League disaster
After putting nine goals past Rangers in the play-offs, Club Brugge’s thrilling European sojourns continued at the Jan Breydal Stadium. Monaco were 3-0 down and all-but out before former West Ham defender Thilo Kehrer was introduced at the break to halt the tide.
And while the aforementioned Scuro used a tense post-match press conference to defend the sale of Magassa – for an initial £14 million – his is an explanation few Monaco fans seem willing to swallow.
“A single match is not enough to take radical decisions like this one. I don’t think we took too many risks by not replacing Magassa,” Scuro claimed.
“We have confidence in our players. The decision to transfer Soungou was to make room for players like [Aladji] Bamba and [Mamadou] Coulibaly.”
Teenager Bamba was all at sea as Club Brugge ran riot in the first-half, however. And Coulibaly’s introduction at the break, alongside Kehrer, made very little difference as awkward questions are aimed squarely in Scuro’s direction.
“You’re losing key players from your team and you’re not replacing any of them,” one Monaco fan fumed on X. “You’re losing [Wilfried] Singo, [Breel] Embolo, [Eliesse] Ben Seghir and Magassa, and not replacing any of them with quality!
“You have to be completely stupid [to do that].”
“There were already not enough midfielders and they sold Magassa,” another agrees, while one supporter adds that ‘neither Magassa nor [fellow enforcer] Al Musrati were replaced’.
“You sell Magassa. You wanted to sell [Denis] Zakaria. Who were we going to play with exactly?
“I have an explanation [for the defeat]. Tactically, Adi Hutter lacks ideas, plus the lack of desire of the players, especially those who dreamed of leaving, and the lack of recruitment of a midfielder to replace Magassa.”
CEO Thiago Scuro under big pressure after Paul Pogba risk
Now, West Ham have faced plenty of criticism themselves for signing high-profile players past their peak.
Moving on proven performers like Singo, Ben Seghir and Magassa, only to bring in a 32-year-old Paul Pogba who has not played a competitive game since September 2023 is already shaping up to be a decision which puts Scuro and co under huge scrutiny.
Ansu Fati, scorer of Thursday’s late consolation, also joined having barely kicked a ball for Barcelona in recent times.
“Pogba and Fati are gambles, and Pogba is still a good month before he returns,” another irate fan points out. “You sold Magassa for 20 million euros, and you are going to tell me that you did not have players on the list to replace him?
“They sold the family jewels. Losing Singo, Magassa, Ben Seghir and recruiting Pogba, [Eric] Dier and Fati, the downgrade is monstrous. Not to mention the absence of Zakaria.
“[That Club Brugge hammering] was predictable. You sell Magassa, you don’t recruit anyone. As a result, you play with Bamba because Zakaria is injured. We’re taking on water from all sides with this 4-2-4.”
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