West Ham manager Nuno Espírito Santo has seemingly changed his tune about one member of the Hammers squad he reportedly didn't fancy, with the tactician speaking highly of him in the build up to this weekend's clash against Burnley.
Nuno has been very experimental with his Irons team selection since taking over from Graham Potter in September.
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One of his first orders of business was axing James Ward-Prowse from the matchday squad entirely, despite the midfielder being vice-captain and an ever-present under Potter.
The 30-year-old hasn't made a single matchday squad during Nuno's time in charge and all signs point towards Ward-Prowse leaving West Ham when the January transfer window opens in under two months time.
West Ham's results in the Premier League so far
Sunderland 3-0 West Ham
West Ham 1-5 Chelsea
Nottingham Forest 0-3 West Ham
West Ham 0-3 Tottenham
West Ham 1-2 Crystal Palace
Everton 1-1 West Ham
Arsenal 2-0 West Ham
West Ham 0-2 Brentford
Leeds 2-1 West Ham
West Ham 3-1 Newcastle
While the writing is on the wall for Ward-Prowse, Nuno has been chopping and changing his preferred options in recent weeks, especially after striker Niclas Fullkrug's latest in a long line of injuries.
The Portuguese deployed Lucas Paqueta as a false nine against both Brentford and Leeds United, but to no avail, with Nuno tinkering his full-back and midfield choices for the two defeats as well.
Against Newcastle last weekend, Nuno finally found a winning formula, electing to gift highly-rated youngster Freddie Potts his first Premier League start for the club whilst dropping Paqueta back into midfield, with Max Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo impressing after swapping sides at centre-back.
Striker Callum Wilson was also handed his first start under Nuno.
The Englishman, who signed on a free transfer from Newcastle in the summer, was finally given the nod but replaced on the hour-mark by Tomas Soucek after putting in a decent shift against his former club.
According to reliable club insider ExWHUemployee last month, when asked why Nuno wasn't playing Wilson in place of Fullkrug initially, the manager simply didn't "fancy" the 33-year-old as an option.
"West Ham have denied that Callum Wilson is not being picked because he has a very high appearance fee," Ex reported.
"Many fans have been baffled at the England forward’s inability to get many minutes under the new gaffer and have speculated that it is more for financial reasons that this is happening rather than selection.
"We did our research and asked the question around. The notion was completely denied by the club, and we were told that the manager just doesn’t fancy him."
However, he now appears to have changed his mind.
Nuno changes tune about Callum Wilson as he makes "very important" West Ham claim
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Burnley, Nuno was adamant that Wilson is a "very important" player for West Ham and praised his performance at home to Newcastle.
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The 51-year-old also strongly hinted that Wilson is in line for another start against Scott Parker's side at the London Stadium.
"I think he did really well against Newcastle," Nuno explained.
"He had a tough job, up against two physical centre-halves, but he was a presence up there. We had to manage Callum, and he came off after around 60 minutes, but his experience will continue to be really important for us. He has a good record against Burnley (seven goals in 12 games), and if he can score on Saturday that would be amazing!"
Wilson was once one of the Premier League's most prolific strikers, scoring 18 top flight goals for Newcastle in 2022/2023 before a plethora of injury problems dampened his form.
So far, the ex-Bournemouth hitman has been fit and readily available for all of West Ham's games since joining, and Nuno will be praying that continues, at least until January.
West Ham are believed to be in the market for a striker, and this is backed up by the likes of Sky Sports and Fabrizio Romano, with Fullkrug apparently deciding to leave West Ham when the winter window reopens.