West Ham United’s one-that-got-away Carlos Forbs Borges is showing he can develop into a Thierry Henry-style forward since leaving the Premier League for Eredivisie giants Ajax over the summer.
That, at least, is the opinion former Ajax midfielder Kenneth Perez got as the Manchester City academy graduate notched his first ever assist in the Dutch top flight over the weekend.
Carlos Borges, or Carlos Forbs as he is known these days, left an RKC Waalwijk defender gasping for air and chasing shadows when embarking on one of those trademark bursting runs in from the flank but, instead of blindly shooting from the edge of the box, he picked up his head and picked out Brian Brobbey.
Ajax’s number nine making sure not to waste Forbs’ inch-perfect through ball.
West Ham nearly signed Carlos Forbs from Man City
Ajax, according to Fabrizio Romano, hi-jacked West Ham’s deal at the eleventh hour over the summer, stumping up £12 million for Borges.
And amid all the criticism that has come the way of their recruitment department – former technical director Sven Mislintat paying with his job – Borges is at least showing tantalising glimpses of serious value.
“Instead of shooting blindly, he had his head up. He looked at Brobbey’s run and played the ball. I think that’s a real plus,” Perez tells the That Was The Weekend podcast. “You cannot take that speed away from him. (But) if you look up, you become really, really good.
“Speed is such a great asset in football. You actually have to have it. Speed is often accompanied by a bit of blindness but, if that is not the case, then you become Thierry Henry.”
‘Become Thierry Henry’
Borges scored 21 goals and set up 11 more for Manchester City in Premier League 2 last season.
West Ham then reached a verbal agreement with Pep Guardiola’s side, per Romano, but the Portugal U21 international obviously felt his development would be better served at a club who turned Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, Lisandro Martinez and co into household names.
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