Unavailable West Ham players made the trip to support their team against Bayer Leverkusen, but one star was missing.

As a player, when you’re unavailable there are not too many expectations on you. Not travelling to an away game is understandable, not going to a normal home game is forgivable, but not attending your club’s biggest home game in their recent history is baffling.

It was great to see the injured Alphonse Areola cheering on West Ham against Bayer Leverkusen. alongside suspended Emerson Palmieri. Even Flynn Downes made the 160 mile trip from Southampton (where he currently is on loan) to support his teammates.

While ultimately the Hammers fell short at beating the German champions, the players will be delighted to have felt supported by everyone around them. What fans and players alike are presumably not too pleased with though is the fact that Lucas Paqueta was nowhere to be seen.

The Brazilian’s recent performances had already led some to believe that his heart wasn’t in it and that his head is already in Manchester. Unfortunately, him seemingly not being there to support his teammates has not done any favours in proving these fans wrong.

Obviously, we do not know the reason that he didn’t show up (he didn’t play due to a suspension) but it really is not a good look. If there was a valid excuse for his absence, then it could only do him good to come out and state why. For now though, it gives the impression that he simply could not be bothered.