Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at 4:55 PM• Dominic Mostert

Felipe Anderson has to look for a new club after this season, he suspects The Sun. The attacking midfielder is rented by West Ham United to FC Porto this season, but hardly comes into action in the Liga NOS. The perspective at West Ham is not much better, as trainer David Moyes has already made it clear internally that Anderson is not in his plans for next season.

Anderson made the switch from Lazio to West Ham in the summer of 2018 for at least 40 and a maximum of 47.5 million euros. It thus became the most expensive club purchase ever, until Sébastien Haller came over from Eintracht Frankfurt a year later for 50 million euros. In January, West Ham already suffered a big loss against Haller, by selling the striker to Ajax for 22.5 million euros. The Hammers also expect to suffer a big loss to 27-year-old Anderson in the summer.

On a rental basis at Porto, Anderson only played four times in competition this season. His last appearance dates from February 4, when the midfielder participated for 56 minutes in the league match against Belenenses (0-0). In the following nine official games, he stayed on the bench six times and was not even part of the selection three times. The challenge for West Ham will be to find a club that wants to take over Anderson and can meet his salary requirements.

With a weekly wage of approximately 117,000 euros, he is the best-paid player in the club. It seems unlikely that he will be able to earn such a fee at a new club, so the question is what Anderson’s plans look like. In any case, Moyes has become convinced that the top buy does not have the right ‘work ethic’ and hopes with Anderson’s departure to make room financially to keep Jesse Lingard and Craig Dawson, mercenaries from Manchester United and Watford respectively.

Anderson was one of the eye-catchers at Lazio before coming to England: in his last season, the creative midfielder scored 7 goals and 9 assists in 31 official games. In total, Anderson scored 33 hits and 40 assists in 174 games in 5 seasons i Biancocelesti. At West Ham, he was unparalleled, scoring 12 goals and as many assists in 72 league matches. It was stored near Porto from the beginning of October; West Ham hoped he would revive his career in Portugal, but it didn’t.