The season’s almost over, and it’s time to weigh up the players and see who’s been left wanting. It’s not going to be a strong showing for any of the players, as it’s mainly been the fans who have been wanting – nay, pleading – to see some entertaining football this season. Fans would be forgiven for expecting to see entertainment from our Spanish summer loan signing, Carlos Soler, a skillful and lively midfielder with proven success at his heels.
The PSG Pedigree vs. Premier League Reality
Soler joined us on loan from Paris Saint-Germain – a decent French side – and the 28 year old Soler arrived at West Ham with an impressive CV. He came through at hometown club Valencia, where he made 226 appearances and qualified for the Champions League twice – all stemming from his first appearance as a 19 year old. He played International football for Spain on 14 occasions – a tough international side to break into. At PSG, he won two Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de France and a Trophée des Champions. When we signed him on loan, the club described him as the ‘ninth signing of our exciting summer transfer window’. Little did we know that our excitement would close with the window, and that Soler, like many others, would fail to live up to his potential under not one but two managers.
Missing in Action
Carlos joined us on August 30th and made his debut just two weeks later, coming on as a substitute in the second half of a 1-1 draw with Fulham. His next notable contribution for West Ham was to grab an assist in the 5-2 defeat by Arsenal in November, and then, as the club largely went missing in action, so did he. No more or less than anyone else did, but it happened all the same. He’s played 28 games for West Ham, starting in just 14, and amassing 1,346 minutes thus far this season. He’s only played one full 90 – in a recent draw with already relegated Southampton. He played in the single FA Cup game for West Ham this year and was substituted in for our winning EFL Cup game; and out for for the subsequent losing one. The rest of his season varies from 20 minutes here to 70 minutes there, with no discernible patterns or even notable differences under either manager he’s played under at West Ham.
The Numbers: Inconsistency in Claret and Blue
His stats also tell the story of some inconsistency in claret and blue. He’s played 587 passes, with 520 completed – giving him an excellent 88.6% pass success rate. His tackles have a 76.9% success rate and he’s made 19 clearances – really valuable stats. But on the other hand, he loses nearly two thirds of his duels and just over half of his aerial duels. Up front is another spot where the numbers don’t sell a strong narrative. As a midfielder, Soler’s not solely responsible for scoring goals, but it sure would be nice if he did. His 28 appearances have led to just 16 shots – eight of which were on target – and just one of which was a goal.
A Stunner in a Sea of Mediocrity
The goal itself was a stunner – against Fulham, Soler was quick to capitalise on some very sloppy goalkeeping and defending and put a screamer into the back of the net, earning himself a well-deserved ‘goal of the month’ plaudit. But none of this feels like enough for him to be earning a permanent spot at the club. You could argue that he hasn’t played enough to prove himself, but of the two separate managers he played under this season, neither felt him worthy of regular and consistent playing time.
Bon Voyage to East London
He’s got to be missing the sweet taste of success from his time in France – and be ready to bid bon voyage to east London. Paris Saint-Germain have gone on to have a significantly better season than West Ham United, which is, admittedly, not a hard accolade to achieve. At the time of writing, they are comfortably on top of French Ligue 1 by a 20 point lead and they are heading for a Champions League final. To Soler’s distress, the French club have proved they don’t need him to achieve great things, and he’s unlikely to get much game time in Paris – so it’s hard to tell what’s best for him moving forwards, other than that his time in claret and blue is over.
Grit Over Flair: The Path Forward
Afterall, nothing this season has been good for the club, the fans, the players – and continuing on in the same way next season would not be the right path to take for anyone. There are some players in the team who have been consistent at putting a shift in and visibly, notably, working hard, and Soler has been too mediocre in a team full of poor performers to warrant another go-round on the West Ham circus carousel. There’s no way he’ll want to continue to be part of a losing side, and given his CV before coming to east London, he likely will be able to perform better in a team that’s playing a higher standard of football and has some ambitions to win games. Plus, at West Ham, we need grit and hard work more than we need flair. In some ways, Soler represents a lesser standard of the Paqueta/Kudus style of player, which hasn’t delivered this season. Especially compared to the return on our investment from our ‘no-frills’ players, such as Soucek, who has been frustrating at times this season but has still banged in eight goals, which is the same amount as Paqueta and Kudus’ tallies combined. He’s not done enough to stay, and there’s no reason to suggest he’d want to anyways. So it’s likely so long, Soler, in June with his time at the Olympic Stadium just being a blip in what will otherwise remain an illustrious career.
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