CSKA Moscow have been warned about bringing Nikola Vlasic back to Russia as West Ham United’s Premier League misfit prepares to leave the London Stadium, former USSR international Vladimir Ponomarev tells RB Sports.
After one season, six starts and zero league goals, Vlasic’s underwhelming West Ham career appears to be shuddering to a rather premature halt.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Hammers could sell both the £25 million Croatia international and the inconsistent Said Benrahma; Maxwel Cornet’s arrival from Burnley pushing both players down David Moyes’ pecking order.
The only question, it seems, is where Vlasic ends up next.
Serie A outfit Torino appear to be the most likely destination as things stand (Di Marzio). And while some have suggested that Vlasic could return to the club where he played the best football of his career, Ponomarev subscribes to that old football cliché; ‘Never go back’.
Nikola Vlasic could leave West Ham United already
“CSKA should not return for Vlasic,” says Ponomarev, who played for the Moscow giants all the way back in the 1960s.
“You can’t step into the same river twice. Yes, he played well for The Army, but his time at the club has passed.
“Nikola will no longer play at the high level that he had in CSKA. He carried the entire team. Too bad he was a rotation player at West Ham. Because of this, the footballer loses his qualifications.”
Vlasic, having disappointed at Everton during his initial spell in the Premier League, was left on the bench as West Ham began the new campaign with a 2-0 home defeat to an Erling Haaland-inspired Manchester City on Sunday afternoon.
“Yes, (an exit) is possible,” Vlasic’s agent, Toni, Martic, said on Friday. “Let’s not rush and see what happens in the near future.”
Cornet meanwhile, a £17.5 million signing, should become Moyes’ first-choice on the left-hand side; Potentially forming an exciting front three with Jarrod Bowen and Gianluca Scamacca.
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