West Ham winger Felipe Anderson joined FC Porto on loan during the summer transfer window, and so far the move has not worked out.
Felipe Anderson joined West Ham from S.S. Lazio in the summer of 2018 for a club-record fee of £36 million. In the Brazilian’s first season in London, he lit up the Premier League for a time and finished his first season with an impressive ten goals and four assists in all competitions.
The former Santos player then suffered second season syndrome. In the 2019/20 season, Anderson’s output dropped massively. The 27-year-old only managed one goal and four assists in the entire season. This season Anderson had to settle for a bench role and game time in the League Cup.
Anderson did well in the cup, scoring once and assisting two in only three cup games. This improved form was not enough to convince manager David Moyes. Therefore it was judged that Anderson could benefit from a spell away from the Hammers.
FC Porto were the takers, but since moving to Portugal, the move has not worked out. Anderson has featured very little for the Portugues giants. In fact, the Brazilian has only managed 49 minutes of league action since joining.
Anderson has not featured for Porto in the Champions League, despite being named on the bench on two occasions. The Porto manager, Sérgio Conceição, did not name Anderson in his matchday squad for their previous Champions League match against Marseille.
Conceição has previously called out Anderson for lack of work-rate and suggested that this needs to improve if he is to succeed in Porto. The lack of game-time Anderson is receiving could further damage his confidence and his market value.
The plan of loaning out Anderson one would imagine would be to give him the chance to get his confidence back. A firing Anderson is worth more to West Ham as a player and as a sellable asset if they decided to move him on.
Therefore there is the potential of recalling Anderson from FC Porto in the January transfer window. West Ham would have to negotiate to bring him back. The negotiation could include the Hammers refunding the Portuguese side part of the loan fee they paid for the winger.
Anderson, should he return to the Hammers, would not be able to go out on loan again. Fifa rules that a player can not represent more than two clubs per season, this was confirmed by ExWHUemployee on Patreon.
If Anderson does return to West Ham, he will be at the club until the summer at least and will have new competition. After the arrival of Said Benrahma and form of Pablo Fornals, the position Anderson would need to be up for a battle.