West Ham United midfielder Pablo Fornals has been praised by pundit Joe Cole after rattling the woodwork against Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday.
That might not sound like a great deal, but the technique was incredible.
Michail Antonio nodded down a Vladimir Coufal cross, and Fornals caught a sweet volley from inside the box.
Fornals was unlucky to see his effort rattle the crossbar as Brighton escaped.
Fornals set up the opener as Tomas Soucek nodded in the Spaniard’s corner at the near post.
West Ham will have been wishing Fornals’ strike had gone in as Neal Maupay later rescued a point for Brighton.
Fornals is now on four goals and two assists this season and is enjoying a fine campaign for David Moyes’ side.
Yet still Fornals doesn’t quite get the same hype as Declan Rice or even Tomas Soucek, Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma.
Pundit Cole – a former West Ham man himself – has now told Amazon Prime (01/12, 7:58pm) that he thinks Fornals is ‘very, very underrated’.
Cole noted that Fornals is technically impressive and his volley showed that he can do what ‘normal players’ can’t.
“He’s actually a very, very underrated player,” said Cole. “He’s one of them where you’re watching him consistently and he does everything right.”
“Technically he’s sound, it’s very easy for a normal player to sky that or scuff it, just lovely technique,” he added.
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