Manuel is keeping L-plates on Lucas
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VMANUEL PELLEGRINI says it would take “too long” to explain all the reasons why Lucas Perez does not start in the Premier League.
The £4million summer signing from Arsenal came off the bench in midweek to score twice in West Ham’s 3-1 home win over Cardiff.
With first-choice striker Marko Arnautovic out for a month with a hamstring injury, the Spaniard is in line to make his first league start at home to Crystal Palace today.
But Hammers manager Pellegrini believes Perez still needs L-plates on – even though he is 30 and has been in England since 2016.
“What does he need to learn? We cannot talk about that, it is too long,” Pellegrini said. “As a manager you must always be listening and try to learn new things and it is exactly the same for a player. You must be able to hear what a manager is telling you and if you don’t you are not able to play. You may have the quality but you need to improve on other things.
“Lucas has a lot of things to continue learning but he now has to demonstrate that he is a player who has the level to play in the Premier League. It will depend on what he does in the next games.”
The Cardiff clash came a few days after Bluebirds manager Neil Warnock’s 70th birthday. Pellegrini, who is 65, said he wanted to be still in management at that age.
He said: “I hope to be working in my seventies – at 75-plus. If I am in good shape I will do it. In this profession the more experience you have the easier it is.”
Roy Hodgson, meanwhile, admits Palace got it wrong last January and insists there will be no repeat in next month’s transfer window. The Eagles manager wants to freshen up his squad but maintains there is no need for drastic action despite Palace sitting just three points above the drop zone.
Palace shelled out £9m on striker Alexander Sorloth, who has yet to score his first league goal, while defender Jaroslaw Jach and midfielder Erdal Rakip left in the summer without making a firstteam appearance.
Hodgson, though, is adamant Palace are better prepared this time around. He said: “Certainly we didn’t succeed last January and if we do anything this January, it will be better and more thought out because we will have had so much more time.”