Confidence is high at West Ham United after a brilliant turnaround in their season of late.
Expectations were high in the summer when West Ham appointed Manuel Pellegrini and backed him with unprecedented spending of over £100 million.
With Pellegrini on board and 10 new players to boot Hammers fans were hoping for a more comfortable campaign.
Four straight Premier League defeats was the reality, though, and Pellegrini was quickly made second favourite to be the first manager sacked.
A 3-1 victory away at Everton kickstarted a turnaround, though, and was followed by a superb 0-0 draw with Chelsea, an 8-0 cup win over Macclesfield and a 3-1 triumph over Manchester United.
Suddenly everything is rosy again in East London with the likes of Marko Arnautovic and Mark Noble full of confidence in interviews.
So a humbling experience at the Hammers training ground this week has come at the perfect time to help guard against complacency and inspire the squad ahead of Friday night’s trip to Brighton.
In November 2016, the football world was devastated by the news that a plane carrying Brazilian football team Chapecoense to their Copa Sudamerica final first leg against Colombian side Atletico Nacional had crashed on its approach to the airport at Medellin, killing 71 or the 77 people on board, including 19 of the club’s players and their manager Luis Saroli.
Of the six survivors, three were Chapecoense players – defenders Alan Ruschel and Neto, and reserve goalkeeper Jakson Follmann, whose injuries meant that he was forced to have his right leg amputated and retire from professional football.
Despite the tragedy, Follmann fought his way back and showed immense physical recovery, taking part in training sessions having fully adapted to the use of a prosthetic leg and announcing his desire to represent Brazil at the Paralympic level of football. He has also become an ambassador for Chapecoense and travelled the world to tell his inspirational story – with West Ham his most recent destination.
The inspirational figure was at Rush Green thanks to Hammers’ goalkeeping coach Xavi Valero.
And he told West Ham’s official website it was a humbling experience for the squad.
“It was a huge privilege and very humbling for everyone here to meet Jakson and learn more about the journey he has been through in the last couple of years,” Xavi told whufc.com.
“To go through the horror he experienced, losing so many of his friends and colleagues, and then coming to terms with his life-changing injuries, is impossible to imagine, yet he has recovered so well and is now travelling the world as an ambassador for Chapecoense.
“He has shown such strength and bravery to carry on, giving so much to his club and to the game in general. It is an inspiring story and we were very honoured to welcome him to the club.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
