West Ham United manager David Moyes admits he has been impressed with the return of winger Maxwel Cornet after a long injury absence.
The Ivorian winger has not played since October 1, when he was forced off in the first half of his Premier League debut for the Hammers against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the London Stadium.
Cornet, who signed from Burnley for £17.5million in the summer transfer window, was initially only set to miss a few weeks, but has suffered a number of setbacks on his road to recovery, spending much of the last two months working with a specialist Paris.
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Now, Cornet is back in first-team training after virtually five months out on the sidelines, and despite his lengthy absence, Moyes has been impressed with how the former Olympique Lyonnais attacker has fared in training, but does not want to rush him back too soon.
“I’ve been really impressed by how he’s come back,” said Moyes. “Maxi’s come back this week and looked sharp and quick. He looks like he’s on the verge of being ready to be rolled out.
“I’m pleased because he’s been out for such a long time, I’m hoping I won’t need to take too much time but it’s very difficult. For someone to be out for five months and say: 'okay get your gear on, you’re going to go straight back out’ is not happening that often.
“But, back to the point, we haven’t got much time so we might need to get him out as quickly as we possibly can.”
As seen earlier this season with returns for centre-backs Angelo Ogbonna and Nayef Aguerd, manager Moyes has put them in games to get them up to full fitness:
For Ogbonna, he featured in an under-21s game back in August on his return from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, while Aguerd got minutes in two Europa Conference League matches ahead of his debut in the Premier League, missing over three months with an ankle issue.
With the club’s under-21s due to face Brighton and Hove Albion and Manchester City at home next Monday and Friday at home, there was a consideration to potentially put Cornet into Mark Robson’s side for one or both of those.
However, with a busy few weeks to come and with West Ham still competing in the FA Cup and Europa Conference League, Moyes may look to turn to Cornet sooner, with his pleasing return to training only helping his chances of a first-team return.
“We’ve got two under-21 games next week which I might consider or I might think I don’t need to and put him straight back in,” added Moyes.
“With us having the midweek cup tie, then a League game, then we’re away in Europe after that, I’m going to need him just for the numbers.
“We’ll have a look and see what we think as the games go on.”
Despite missing the last 22 matches in all competitions with his calf injury, Cornet has the surprise honour of being joint-top for West Ham assists in all competitions this season alongside Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta, with three.
When football.london told Moyes about that statistic, the Scottish manager was very surprised, adding it perhaps said more about not just the struggles for goal this season, but the chances crested too.
“Is that right? Wow,” Moyes responded. “That gives you an idea of the point about not getting goals and assists.
“We’ve just not had it. Maybe it’s the assist-makers rather than the goalscorers. That’s something isn’t it?”
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