Maxwel Cornet was delighted to get some solid minutes under his belt during West Ham’s 1-0 win against FK TSC.
Fans were jubilant with the signing of Cornet back in 2022. The winger was a standout player in a poor Burnley side the season prior and the expectations were high, despite concerns about his injury record.
Unfortunately, Cornet suffered from an extremely rare condition that kept him out for a number of months and he has struggled to find minutes ever since.
However, despite this, Cornet came on in the 67th minute and was one of the only positives for West Ham in a game where they struggled to break down the home-side.
“It was important for me to get some minutes tonight and I’m really happy about the victory, so let’s continue,” the winger gleamed, when speaking to West Ham TV.
The Ivorian put in a superb cross to Tomas Soucek in the 90th minute of Thursday night’s Europa League match to secure a dramatic win for his side which, hopefully, will give him the confidence to finally kick on in East London. “I’m happy to give an assist with my cross for Tomáš,” he confirmed. “When I play on the right side I can try a lot of things, go inside and shoot or cross like I did with the assist, so I can play everywhere up front.” Adding that “I’m just happy to get some minutes. It was very important for me.”
Even though he has not had the impact that he would have liked for the Hammers, Cornet is an extremely popular player in the dressing room and he said that his teammates were overjoyed that he finally got a chance to prove himself. “They were happy for me because it’s been a while that I didn’t play, but I still keep my confidence in training to be ready at the right moment like tonight, so I’ll keep going and keep pushing.”
“Of course, I can do more with some minutes in the legs, but we just keep building. When the manager calls me to go on the pitch, I just need to be ready.”
“When we play football, we enjoy this type of game and this type of competition, and we’re here to win every game and win the trophy. Of course, we know it won’t be easy and there will be a lot of games to play, but the most important thing is to keep the confidence and win the games,” he concluded.
Cornet provided exactly what we needed when he came on, urgency and a piece of individual quality to pick out Soucek to secure all three points. There have been times this season when he’s not even made the bench but hopefully this has given Moyes something to think about, and maybe we will finally get to see the best of Cornet. Who knows, he could work his way into being our starting left winger – the opportunity is there for the taking.
By Charlie Bass
