The West Ham fanbase were incredibly split on Felipe Anderson during the winger’s time at the London Stadium.
The Hammers signed the 29-year-old from Lazio in the summer of 2018 for a then club record £36 million (BBC).
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West Ham sold Felipe Anderson back to Lazio in the summer of 2021 after he struggled during the latter stages of his career at the London Stadium.
And it seems as though the Brazilian winger has rediscovered some of his best stuff since moving back to the Italian capital.
The question now is – did West Ham make a big mistake selling Anderson for such a nominal fee?
Should West Ham have kept hold of Felipe Anderson?
West Ham sold Anderson for just £4 million according to Tutto Mercato Web – a £32 million loss on what we paid for him four years ago.
Now, I’m not saying that moving him on was the wrong decision, but surely we could have got a better fee for him, even if that meant extending his contract in order to do so.
The 29-year-old has been in fine form for Lazio over the past 18 months.
Last season, he bagged seven goals and eight assists in 48 games and this term has eight goals and five assists in 29 appearances to his name (Transfermarkt).
Whilst Anderson was really poor for West Ham during the final year or so that he spent in East London, it’s clear to see that he would have been a useful squad member for David Moyes now.
The Brazilian would have provided superb competition for Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen on both wings. Despite having made eight new signings in the summer, West Ham’s bench is still very light indeed.
I believe that West Ham should have extended the contract of Felipe Anderson, kept him for at least one more year and provided him with plenty of starting opportunities. If he still struggled to impress, we could have moved him on, but for a much bigger fee than £4 million, because of the length of contract he would have had remaining at the London Stadium.
At the same time, if he did show signs of rediscovering his best stuff, he would have been a real asset for us.
It would have been a win-win situation for West Ham. Instead, we sold him for absolute peanuts, and that now looks like a terrible mistake from the Hammers.
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