Jeff Stelling thinks Issa Diop must feel he has ‘no future’ at West Ham after the call to play Kurt Zouma in midweek, as he told Sky Sports News (12/02/22 at 1:40 pm).
Hours after footage emerged of Zouma kicking his cat, for which he has since apologised for, West Ham and David Moyes opted to start him in a Premier League game on Tuesday night.
The Hammers beat Watford 1-0 in front of their own supporters, with Zouma playing the entire match and getting a hostile reception from the away fans.
There is an RSPCA investigation underway regarding Zouma’s actions, he has been fined by his club and his cats have been taken away from him.
There was huge condemnation across the world regarding Zouma’s actions, yet Moyes opted to keep him in the XI and not use any of his backup options against the Hornets.
Given one of them was Diop, Sky presenter Stelling doesn’t think that sends out a positive message to the 25-year-old.
“Issa Diop, he must think he has no future at the club now,” said Stelling.
“The club faced widespread condemnation, yet they preferred Zouma to Diop, who is sitting on the bench.”
Former Palace striker, Clinton Morrison added: “I wouldn’t say they have got trust in Diop. I would say they look at Zouma as one of their best centre-halves.
“They think, he is better than him and we want to take the risk of him playing – They were looking at the team and I don’t think it was the right decision.”
West Ham travel down to the King Power Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on Brendan Rodgers’ out-of-sorts, Leicester City.
Whilst Zouma had his home crowd behind him on Tuesday night, it’s not going to be the case against the Foxes.
And in truth, that’s going to be the case up and down the country for the France international in months to come.
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