£15m star shows West Ham what they are missing, 'masterful' in Champions League win
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The last thing West Ham United needed right now was to see a player who snubbed their advances produce a Champions League masterclass.
When it rains, as they say, it usually pours.
And as the late-August drizzle threatens to turn into a full-blown October storm, Julen Lopetegui had better batten down the hatches if he is to ensure he is not blown away.
TBR understands that Lopetegui is already under pressure at West Ham United following a dismal start to the new season. And while Saturday’s 1-1 draw at London rivals Brentford paused the rot – if not having stopped it entirely – concerns are only growing.
Not just with Lopetegui’s management either, but with a fleet of summer signings who have not exactly taken the Premier League by storm
On paper, Guido Rodriguez, Niklas Fullkrug, Carlos Soler, Jean-Clair Todibo and Luis Guilherme felt like excellent additions. Football, however, is not played on paper.
Rodriguez has struggled in particular, with Uruguayan enforcer Emiliano Martinez’s desire to swap Mitdtjylland for the Premier League potentially giving West Ham a decision to make in 2025.
And, just to add insult to injury, one of the players who actually turned down West Ham in the summer – Bayer Leverkusen’s Aleix Garcia – has settled into his new home far quicker than the likes of Rodriguez and Fullkrug have.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Aleix Garcia shows West Ham what they’re missing
Then again, maybe that should not come as a surprise.
Aleix Garcia joined a settled, highly-talented Leverkusen side under a Bundesliga-winning head coach Xabi Alonso, after all. West Ham, in contrast, are a team in transition.
With a new boss, and a new spine, after still recovering f very disappointing 2023/24 campaign.
Garcia, speaking to reporter Gerard Romero on Twitch after sealing his £15 million switch from Girona to Leverkusen, admitted that Lopetegui ‘called me often’ regarding a potential return to England for the one-time Manchester City prospect.
Garcia, however, could not turn down the lure of Champions League action.
And as he delivered a stand-out performance during Bayer Leverkusen’s 1-0 win over seven-time European champions AC Milan on Tuesday night, surely even the most biased Hammers fan would have to concede that Garcia made the right decision.
It was he who lit the fuse for Leverkusen’s 51st minute winner.
Garcia, a deep-lying playmaker the likes of which West Ham do not really have at present, threaded an inch-perfect through ball into the onrushing Alejandro Grimaldo. Via a decent save from Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, star striker Victor Boniface then tapped home at the back post.
Garcia’s role in the only goal of the game, to quote German publication Sueddeutsche Zeitung was nothing short of ‘masterful’.
Xabi Alonso delighted as Aleix Garcia lights up Champions League
The manner in which the Spain international controlled proceedings and set the tempo, meanwhile, would surely have had Liverpool, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich great Xabi Alonso reminiscing about his own playing days.
“We know the quality of Aleix,” Alonso said during his post-match press conference. “He can play a pass from 50 metres [away].”
The Kolner Stadt Anzeiger newspaper gave Garcia the Man of the Match award. Understandably so, with Garcia passing the eye test and acing the statistics too.
Only towering centre-back Edmond Tapsoba made more tackles against Milan. Garcia also completed a game-high five clearances as well as 100 per cent of his attempted passes.
Talk about a complete midfield display.
“[Garcia] showed beautiful and precise aerial balls across the field to Grimaldo and [fellow full-back Jeremie] Frimpong,” Kolner Stadt Anzeiger write. “[He] set up the goal with a through ball, [and was] also attentive defensively.
“Leverkusen’s best player.”
With Ipswich Town to come on Saturday but Tottenham and Manchester United after that, it will be interesting to see what sort of shape West Ham are in by the time Leverkusen next kick off a Champions League fixture on October 23rd.
