West Ham: £24m star is ‘massively underrated’ at London Stadium

West Ham United attacking midfielder Pablo Fornals is ‘massively underrated’, according to freelance journalist Paul Brown.

The 26-year-old has established himself as a key player for the Hammers under the tutelage of manager David Moyes over the last couple of campaigns following a shaky start on English shores.

Fornals completed a £24 million move from Villarreal to West Ham back in June 2019, penning a five-year deal, with the option to extend his stay for a further 12 months.

And the Spain international enjoyed his most productive campaign in claret & blue last term, registering six goals and seven assists in 54 appearances across all competitions.

Yet Fornals is rarely a player who hogs the headlines, with the likes of Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen and Declan Rice all receiving much more attention than their hard-working teammate.

Former Iron Tony Gale was full of praise for the 5 foot 10 star when on punditry duty last year, labelling him a ‘workaholic’ before stating that his ‘work rate is phenomenal’.

Brown believes that Fornals is ‘slightly different’ to his colleagues in east London and that a lot of his good work goes under the radar due to his modest goal contribution tally.

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In an interview with GiveMeSport, he said: “Fornals is slightly different. I think Fornals is massively underrated.

“I was quite a big critic of his to begin with, but if you analyse a lot of what West Ham do, he doesn't always show up sharp in the stat sheet with a goal or an assist, but he's quite often the guy who plays the first pass in the move that leads to a goal.”

Fornals has arguably been slightly disappointing