West Ham can boast a few players of international quality within their squad. However, two new recruits are all but out of the picture for their nations with the Hammers’ poor run of form this season.
With the Euro’s coming up this summer, West Ham will have some solid representation within the tournament from their squad of players. The likes of Declan Rice in the England team, Tomas Soucek in the Czech Republic team, Darren Randolph for Ireland, Andriy Yarmolenko for Ukraine, and Lukasz Fabianski for Poland are all no doubters for the tournament. But, two new additions are on the outskirts looking in.
Sebastien Haller – France, ST
With one of the deepest teams in Europe, it was always going to be an uphill battle for Sebastien Haller to make France’s team. That being said, his incredible season for Frankfurt in 2018/2019 had him on the forefront of onlookers’ minds for a possible bench spot on the remarkably talented team from France.
His regression this season has been on the scoresheet and in his attitude on the pitch. Starting the season by closing down the opposition, winning every aerial duel, and working hard for 90 minutes, Haller has dropped off in all categories for the Hammers and has all but slammed the door shut on the idea of him joining France.
With just 6 goals and 2 assists in 24 Premier League games this season, Haller is showing he is far off from European quality. With Olivier Giroud aging out of the team, France have the striker options of Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, and Karim Benzema ahead of Haller, who has likely dropped far off of France’s radar.
Pablo Fornals – Spain, CAM
After a very impressive U21 World Cup-winning campaign with Spain, Pablo Fornals now inexplicably finds himself behind Manuel Lanzini on the West Ham depth chart and out of contention for the starting XI. He started life a bit rough in the Premier League, but the 23-year-old midfielder had switched on under Manuel Pellegrini before the manager’s sacking.
From central to a left-sided midfielder, Fornals found success by drifting centrally in support of the striker to clean up second opportunities in the opposition’s area. Now, he’s restricted to throwaway minutes at the end of matches, stunting his development under David Moyes.
Fornals’ needs minutes and can help West Ham return to form. If he did so, would he surpass the strong, deep midfield options that Spain has at their disposal? Maybe not, but being in contention would probably encourage him even further. As of now, he and Haller are international afterthoughts for two reasons – the team is in terrible form and they aren’t helping!