A blunder by Pellegrini? West Ham might regret splashing £17.5m on 28-year-old attacker

Why West Ham have committed a blunder by splashing £17.5m on Yarmolenko

West Ham have stepped into the international break on the back of a defeat at the London Stadium against Premier League new boys Wolverhampton Wanderers.

West Ham conceded a stoppage-time goal to suffer a 1-0 defeat to Wolves last weekend. The loss is the club’s fourth straight defeat of the campaign and leaves them as the only team in the Premier League yet to pick up a single point so far this term.

Before the 2018/19 Premier League season began, many had expected West Ham to be the surprise package and push towards achieving a European spot given the fact that they had made some exciting signings in the summer.

While Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham still have the time to turn the tables around considerably, the performances in the first four games hint that they may once again endure a long season.

Blame game for West Ham’s wretched start to this season shouldn’t be on the cards but some of the high-profile players are yet to perform at their best. One of them is Andriy Yarmolenko, signed from Borussia Dortmund in a £17.5million deal in the summer transfer window.

Yarmolenko was viewed as one of the big summer signings who would seamlessly slot into Pellegrini’s plans but that hasn’t been the case.

The 28-year-old Ukraine international hasn’t exactly enjoyed the best start to his West Ham career. He is yet to start a Premier League game and has made four substitute appearances for the basement boys so far. More importantly, Yarmolenko is yet to make an impact off the bench too, failing to contribute with a single goal or assist so far for Pellegrini.

Marko Arnautovic is the only player who has netted a league goal for the Hammers till date but the Austrian remains isolated in the attack. When Yarmolenko was signed from Dortmund, the wide man was expected to bring creativity, pace and goals to West Ham but he has royally struggled to adapt to the Premier League.

Yarmolenko is fast, direct, can beat a man and find the net. He was expected to get the fans off their seats as well, but nothing has clicked for the Ukrainian. In fact, Robert Snodgrass has shown great promise in the first four games.

Yarmolenko had struggled to make a real impact in his one season with Dortmund and despite that, the Hammers splashed a lot of money on him and gave him a bumper contract. But he has failed to repay the faith shown by Pellegrini and the West Ham board.

Read more: Why West Ham could struggle to keep hold of their £25m star if things don’t change before January

Given West Ham’s awful start to the new campaign, Pellegrini could hand Yarmolenko a start after the international break but looking at his performances till now, the Hammers certainly have committed a big mistake by splashing big money on the winger.