James Jones of West Ham World guest writes for Read West Ham about how summer signing Pedro Obiang could represent Diafra Sakho-like value for the Hammers this season. Visit West Ham World for more exclusive Hammers content!
The immediate aftermath of Diafra Sakho’s arrival last summer consisted mostly of pessimism.
It was an underwhelming signing that we all know Sam Allardyce didn’t particularly want. The fact the club pulled out of the deal and were then forced to go through with it after Sakho’s club FC Metz threatened legal action is a clear indication of that.
But it soon became obvious that spending around £4.5million on Sakho might just be the best £4.5m we’ve spent in recent history. We all know what impact the striker had on the team’s rise to the top four of the Premier League before injuries ruined his momentum and form.
Value for money in today’s market is hard to come by, but Sakho has already represented exactly that and if he can avoid injury next season, he should score 20+ goals without much trouble.
It’s still extremely early on in this summer’s transfer window (it hasn’t officially opened yet) but we may have already made our Sakho-like signing. And that’s Pedro Obiang – minus the drama and threat of legal action.
We reportedly paid Sampdoria £5.5m for Obiang and although the initial aftermath of his arrival wasn’t as pessimistic as Sakho’s, no one really knows what to expect from the young Spaniard.
Last season our most effective midfielder, statistically, was Mark Noble. He was the driving force of our midfield despite rarely being outstanding. Alex Song, for the first part of the season anyway, was obviously the stand out guy in the midfield – but while Song was more defensive, Noble was tasked with driving the team forward.
Obiang played a similar role for Sampdoria last term. Of the 1,253 passes he made all season, 851 were forward (69%). Noble’s passing stats are almost identical, though he played one less forward pass than Obiang despite playing 76 more passes.
With that in mind, we should expect to see Obiang and Noble tasked with creating all the chances from midfield this season, and most probably being the focal point of Slaven Bilic’s attacking philosophy.
If the club manages to bring Alex Song back on a permanent deal then the three of them have the attacking and defensive attributes combined to form a pretty formidable midfield, and that’s before we’ve even considered what Cheikhou Kouyate will bring to the side.
So if Obiang adapts well Bilic gives him a licence to go forward then the outlay of £5.5m might just prove to be a snip.
He only recorded one assist and three goals from midfield last season but you’d expect that element of his game to improve in a more attacking formation.
While Noble was statistically our best midfielder despite rarely being outstanding, Obiang has the attributes to match Noble’s impact whilst being just as outstanding as Song was last term.
There’s a reason why Obiang has previously been labeled ‘the next Yaya Toure.’ If given the game time and deployed in his strongest position then it won’t be long before we begin to witness first hand why that comparison has been made.
Ok, so he probably won’t be as good as Yaya. But if he can become a similar player for us as Yaya is for Manchester City then £5.5m might turn out to be one of the most value for money signings we’ve made for a while.
Well, since Sakho, obviously.
