Micah Richards has claimed that Sebastien Haller was the ‘forgotten man’ at West Ham but he is now the ‘main man’ at Ajax, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (15/09/21 at 10:50 pm).
Back in January, West Ham sold Haller for £20 million to the Dutch giants (Sky Sports), yet on Wednesday night, he was scoring four goals on his Champions League debut.
Haller matched a 29-year record – set by footballing great Marco van Basten in 1992 for Italian giants AC Milan against Goteborg – by becoming only the second man in Champions League history to score four goals on debut.
The hard-hitting striker did so during Ajax’s 5-1 win at Sporting Lisbon on a crazy night for the Ivory Coast star.
Richards shared that his goals were ‘fully deserved’ and stated how is now the ‘main man’ at his new club.
“If someone scores four goals, you have got to give them the credit,” said Richards. “But a lot of them are put on a plate for him.
“I think his last goal, he shows a little bit more. It’s a lovely first touch that he has and then cooly slots it home. And fully deserved.
“He was a forgotten man at West Ham and now he is the main man at Ajax.”
It will be interesting to see how far Haller can take his game after his struggles in England’s top-flight.
He only turned, 27, in June, so he has just entered the peak years of his career and surely has one more shot at the Premier League if he fancies it.
If Haller continues his form then another English side might just coming knocking for his talents.
At the end of the day, producing such performances in the biggest club competition in the world is going to get you noticed.
And Haller, at this moment in time, is shining bright because he can now tell his grandkids about matching the great Van Basten.
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