A year in review for West Ham United’s nutmegger, Felipe Anderson.
With the majority of West Ham fans chanting “in Pellegrini we trust,” myself included, we look back at the biggest signing to date for the Pellegrini Project and how he has evolved. The player made mention, Felipe Anderson.
A year ago yesterday Felipe Anderson was signed from Lazio in Rome. At the time it was and still is West Ham United’s record signing fee. Since he has signed, Felipe Anderson has had ups and downs and has grown into the Iron’s most prolific winger.
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Anderson, just 26 years of age, didn’t have a bang on start to the season, as it should have been expected. The Brazilian took some time to adjust from Serie A to the English Premier League and it showed.
You could tell that in the first few matches his pace didn’t get him ahead as projected and his lack of defense was hindering West Ham and their game. However, as any good player, and coach for that matter, will do is learn and grow to what is needed.
The offensive ability was there and that came along fast and often throughout the season as he won goal of the season and helped immensely with 10 goals and 5 assists throughout all competitions. Felipe Anderson, I believe was as important for West Ham and they were to him.
Scoring aside, Anderson had some of the best skills abilities that we haven’t seen in East London for sometimes. From the nutmegging to pull up his gloves while flying down the left side, it seemed there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do.
If we dig even deeper into Felipe’s game and take away the skill and the stats, you have his now grown defense. The Hammers don’t have the most consistent left side when it comes to defense and he has been a star in that regard. The once winger that could only attack learned to track back and help out and secure more than one victory with his abilities.
As we move onto not only his second year but the second year of the Pellegrini Project, many West Ham fans, including us, will tell you that the sky is the limit for Felipe Anderson and we haven’t seen the best of him yet.