West Ham’s summer signing Kurt Zouma from Chelsea should immediately replace Craig Dawson in defence.
The Hammers announced the signing of the former Chelsea defender last week, after the club signed him on a permanent fee for £29.8million.
The French international arrives on a four-year deal having spent the last seven years of his career with the Blues. The central defender was, however, sent out on loan to several clubs, including Everton and Stoke City, throughout his time there.
Zouma made 36 appearances last season for Chelsea and has impressed over the past couple of years, but the club’s pursuit for Sevilla’s Jules Kounde made it clear that he was not part of the manager’s long-term plans.
The 26-year-old adds excellent defensive capabilities and a great physical presence to the team, which will help the squad become more solid at the back. His arrival also brings more depth to the squad, which will be needed with our Europa League campaign coming up.
Why he should start over Dawson
Currently David Moyes’ favours Angelo Ogbonna and Craig Dawson as our centre back partnership. While Ogbonna’s place in the team is firmly cemented due to his regular, consistent performances, Dawson has shown signs of defensive frailties at the back in recent weeks.
The 31-year-old started his career at West Ham excellently when he made his club debut against Southampton in December. Four clean sheets in a row helped him retain his spot in the starting XI for the remainder of the season.
However, it was evident to see that his impressive form was slowly dropping off towards the end of the campaign and has continued to do so into the new season.
Several mistakes at the back, poor defending and zero clean sheets in all three of our opening matches, despite our good performances, should mean that our new signing Zouma will get the nod to start after the international break.
While it may seem harsh to replace Dawson immediately, given that he played so well last season, Zouma will bring more defensive solidarity to the team going forward.
It is only a matter of time before our new signing steps into the starting XI and Dawson is unfortunately not performing to high enough standards right now. David Moyes now knows he has a big decision to make before our next Premier League game against Southampton in a fortnight.
