West Ham United’s forgotten man Maxwel Cornet just cannot catch a break, with even a fresh start away from the glare of the Premier League not enough to break his horror run of bad fortune.
Very little has gone to plan for the former Lyon winger since he joined West Ham in a £17 million deal from Burnley in the summer of 2022.
An infamous, would-have-been-last-gasp equaliser chalked off against Chelsea in extremely contentious circumstances only a few weeks into his West Ham United career rather set the tone.
How differently would Maxwel Cornet’s Hammers spell have turned out? A lighting of the fuse moment, perhaps, for a footballer who arrived at the London Stadium amid big expectations following a fine spell at Burnley?
Instead, Jarrod Bowen was adjudged to have fauled Edouard Mendy just before Cornet turned the ball home. And seemingly everything the Ivory Coast international has touched since then has been doomed to end in dissatisfaction.
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Photo by Rene Nijhuis/MB Media/Getty Images
Genoa keen to keep West Ham United misfit Maxwel Cornet
Shortly after Patrick Vieira heralded the arrival of a ‘quality player’ at Genoa, Cornet was struck down by injury once again.
Exploding out of the blocks with two goals and one assist in his first six Serie A appearances, a muscle strain means Cornet has not been seen since he levelled the scores in a 1-1 draw with Cagliari back in March.
Since suffering that fateful calf issue two-and-a-half years ago, the versatile 28-year-old has missed over 40 games for club and country. He has made only six league starts in that time as well.
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Relegated Southampton even terminated Maxwel Cornet’s short-term deal mid-season, forcing The Hammers to thrash out fresh terms with Genoa.
Fortunately, as Ligurian-based publication Il Secolo XIX explain, Genoa are still planning to keep Cornet at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris beyond the current campaign. Il Grifone want to sign the winger permanently, so long as the Conference League winner is willing to accept a reduction on his lofty £65,000-a-week salary.
Il Secolo XIX add that Cornet, for his part, would be happy to stay in Italy.
Patrick Vieira is a big fan of former Burnley and Lyon winger
It remains to be seen how much West Ham will earn by selling Cornet to the Serie A outfit. At this stage, Graham Potter’s side would be lucky to recoup even half of their £17 million investment, though a substantial financial loss will be offset to an extent by his removal from the wage bill.
“He came here with the desire to help the team,” former Crystal Palace, Nice and Manchester City reserve coach Vieira said in January. “He wants to play. He misses the pitch.
“He is an ambitious boy and wants to return to the national team but to do so he must do well here. He is hungry for football and [has the] desire.”
On the subject of other departures, West Ham have already confirmed that Vladimir Coufal, Lukasz Fabianski, Aaron Cresswell and Danny Ings will leave when their contracts expire. Michail Antonio has not been offered a new deal yet, either.
Guido Rodriguez is in talks to re-join River Plate in his native Argentina. Edson Alvarez, James Ward-Prowse and Emerson Palmieri are among the others potentially on their way, while Everton and Leeds have held talks with Tomas Soucek.