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A Difficult Season to Judge West Ham’s Xande Silva

By Aaron Deanes

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Xande Silva of West Ham United attempts to control the ball under pressure from Ash Kigbu and Tre Pemberton of Stoke City during the Premier League 2 match between West Ham United U23 and Stoke City U23 at London Stadium on February 17, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 17: Xande Silva of West Ham United attempts to control the ball under pressure from Ash Kigbu and Tre Pemberton of Stoke City during the Premier League 2 match between West Ham United U23 and Stoke City U23 at London Stadium on February 17, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Burstow/Getty Images) /
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Silva arrived at West Ham in the 2018-2019 preseason from Portuguese club Vitoria Guimareas and was hailed as a player to watch for the future but several injuries have prevented him from making an impact on the first team.

After a torrid pace for the West Ham U23 squad in 2018-2019 that saw him score 7 goals in 8 appearances, Silva made his first start for the Irons against Birmingham in the FA Cup in January 2019. He put in a solid performance but a hernia injury shortly after would keep him out of action for three months.

The 2019-2020 campaign was supposed to be the year that Silva really inserted himself into the first-team discussion. Unfortunately, the young striker/winger was forced to have an emergency bowel obstruction surgery shortly before the preseason began which led to significant weight loss and lengthy rehabilitation.

SIlva finally returned to action for the West Ham U23 squad in February 2020 and recorded 3 goals and an assist in 3 matches before their season ended prematurely due to COVID19. This threw another hurdle in the youngster’s development at a time he could’ve really benefited from as he tried to claw back into first team contention.

After Project Restart, Silva was proclaimed by noted West Ham insider @ExWHUemployee during The West Ham Way Podcast to have been very impressive during training. He appeared in five of the match day squads, but didn’t make any appearances and was notably missing from four matches once Sebastian Haller returned to action.

At this point, it’s very difficult to predict what the future may hold for Xande Silva at West Ham. While he has been prolific at the U23 level, supporters only have to look to Toni Martinez to see another former striker who looked class at that level but couldn’t translate it to the first team.

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Season Grade: N/A

Silva has the ability to play at both the striker and winger positions, but it’s likely that the squads lack of depth at that position (at the moment) sees him slot in there. At the age of 23, and going into the final year of his contract here’s hoping that a finally healthy Xande Silva will get a full preseason to show David Moyes what he can bring to West Ham.