West Ham confirmed the signing of Olympiakos left-back Arthur Masuaku on a four-year-contract. The 22-year-old signs for the club for an undisclosed fee – rumoured to be in the region of £6m – from the Greek champions.
The former Valenciennes and France under-19 international has been drafted in following Aaron Cresswell’s long-term injury. He is expected to deputise until Cresswell’s return and then compete with the 2015/15 Hammer of the Year for a starting spot at left back.
Masuaku is a virtual unknown to the majority of West Ham fans as most of us are not familiar with the Greek league so we have compiled some information on our new man so you can become acquainted with him before he kicks his first ball in Claret and Blue.
• Arthur Masuaku was supposedly recommended by scout Tony Henry. Not only is his track record of signings very good, Henry was also formerly employed by Everton and convinced them to sign Kevin Mirallas from Olympiakos. His knowledge of the Greek game supersedes most other English scouts so we will have to trust his judgement on this one.
• Despite only being 22, Masuaku has plenty of European experience already. He has played 12 games in the Champions League – including a qualifier earlier this year – and four times in the Europa League. He even scored on his debut in the Champions League, against Atletico Madrid back in 2014. He is, however, ineligible to play in our playoff against Astra Giurgiu but will be available again should we progress.
• Masuaku’s main qualities are his physical attributes. He has often demonstrated his blistering pace down the left flank which is helpful both defensively and when going forward to support the play. In addition to this, he has bags of energy and was known to charge up and down the left for Olympiakos all game. He is also not easily barged off the ball and has good upper body strength.
• The prospect of Premier League football was enough to convince Masuaku to come to West Ham. He was also reportedly very keen to line up alongside Dimitri Payet. The 22-year-old said that he didn’t think twice about joining the Hammers when he heard the interest as it has always been his dream to play in England’s top division.
• If you scour through fan forums, it appears that Olympiakos fans were not too keen on Masuaku’s bad attitude. This doesn’t bode well for the return of Aaron Cresswell as the Frenchman is likely to be dropped to the bench when our first choice returns. A lack of motivation is seen to be an issue in Masuaku’s game but let’s hope that Bilic can weed the problems out of his game and develop him into a mature footballer who is playing in a very attractive league.
• On his debut for France under-18s Masuaku lined up alongside the man who is widely tipped to become the world’s first £100m transfer fee: Paul Pogba. They ran out 2-1 winners over Germany that day. The 5’11’’ left back played 3 times for the under-18s and twice for France under-19s whilst he came through the youth ranks at Valenciennes.
