West Ham missed 'flawless' Chelsea transfer after star's 10/10 Liverpool outing - opinion

It was a jubilant day for some Premier League sides in London on Saturday, but West Ham were not one of them. Chelsea and Arsenal picked up wins to help their top flight campaigns with the former doing so in dramatic fashion.

Enzo Maresca’s side overcame Liverpool with a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge with summer signings playing a vital role. Alejandro Garnacho impressed and caused a constant headache for the Champions, while it was wonderkid Willian Estevao who scored the winner in injury time.

It’s with envy that West Ham must look on at other clubs at the moment, sitting a lowly 19th in the Premier League table. The Hammers have now conceded 16 goals in the league this season, the worst record in the division.

West Ham defensive woes continue

That leaky defence is a major problem for West Ham. If the team is regularly conceding two or more goals in a game, it’s going to be a tough ask to emerge as winners. Come January, investing at the back must be a priority.

That was the case in the summer too. Kyle Walker-Peters and El Hadji Malick Diouf came in, but are full-backs, with Igor Julio the only centre-back signing - Jean-Clair Todibo’s loan move was also made permanent.

In that Chelsea win over Liverpool, it was one defender who stood out and was awarded a 10/10 for his performance. That was Benoit Badiashile.

The Frenchman has been struggling with injury and made his first start of the Premier League campaign. He was raring to go, conducting the crowd early on and stepping into the starting XI with enough confidence to control the defence with instructions.

Badiashile was alert from the off, making a vital block to stop a Dominik Szoboszlai shot in the first half and grappling with Mohamed Salah with no issue at all. When substituted after the break, he went off to a standing ovation from the Chelsea faithful.

Hammers miss transfer opportunity

When awarding him a 10/10, LondonWorld wrote: “A, perhaps, unexpected star of the show in his 55 minutes on the pitch. That was a flawless defensive performance, marshalling the side from the back despite having played so little football this season. Really up for it and clinical in his defensive actions. Chelsea lost organisation and conceded minutes after he went off.”

It could be a frustrating watch for a porous West Ham, especially given they would likely have been able to sign Badiashile in the summer. Maresca has maintained that he always viewed the defender as an important player in recent weeks, but it’s true that Badiashile was a fringe player last term. The defender was an unused substitute in 10 of the final 11 Premier League matches.

Having spent around £212 million this summer, Chelsea were also looking to sell. Noni Madueke, Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, Nicolas Jackson and more all left Stamford Bridge and, should West Ham have come in with a serious offer for Badiashile, it’s reasonable to presume Chelsea would have let him go too. At one point in the summer, transfer expert Graeme Bailey even claimed that Chelsea had offered West Ham the defender as part of a swap deal for Mohammed Kudus.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but, as West Ham struggle in defence, and a potential transfer target steals the show against Liverpool, it’s food for thought.

In other news, Chelsea Player Ratings: 'Unexpected' 10/10 and 'pitbull' 9 as Liverpool beaten late.