Who could West Ham use most now, Payet or Di Canio?

Versatility

BLACKBURN, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 21: Dimitri Payet of West Ham United celebrates after scoring his team’s fifth goal during The Emirates FA Cup fifth round match between Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United at Ewood park on February 21, 2016 in Blackburn, England. (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

A key part of a modern football squad is versatility. Obviously there will always be some players who play in the same position whatever the circumstance but it’s a huge boost to a manager to have a player who is both able and willing to play in a variety of spots dependent on the situation.

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Both Payet and Di Canio displayed versatility in their time at the club and throughout their careers,

but Payet’s obvious preference and ability on the left-wing meant that he was seldom often played anywhere else. I mean, if you had a player who was controlling games every week from the left-wing, why would you want to move him anywhere else?

Di Canio was far more of a movable piece, especially as he cycled through favour under different managers. He had competition for his striking roles in the form of Kanoute and Defoe, but also Ferdinand and Sinclair at various points. Di Canio played as part of a two striker system, or on his own, or in the midfield, centrally or out wide. Given his work rate and commitment to every challenge (whether a good idea or not), managers could rely on him to put a shift in even if he wasn’t able to control the game when on the ball each week.

So the fiery Italian takes it on this front, although if we’d had a squad capable of giving Payet any challenge for that position, or even Slaven Bilic just a pause for thought on how to improve things, it may have been a different story. Di Canio had the ability to impact all across the pitch and that kind of influence and versatility on our current squad would help a lot.