West Ham United manager David Moyes has praised striker Sebastien Haller after the frontman scored twice in the club’s 3-0 victory over Charlton Athletic on Wednesday night.
The Hammers were in desperate need of a reaction after the Premier League opening day defeat to Newcastle and the comfortable win will hopefully bring back some positivity around the London Stadium.
Haller was given a rare chance to start and set West Ham on their way with two first-half goals.
The French forward was signed by the Hammers last summer at considerable expense, but has struggled to get to grips with life in East London and in the Premier League.
As such, Moyes has preferred to field Michail Antonio as the first-choice centre forward for Premier League games, with the versatile West Ham man ending last season in strong form.
The Hammers boss was asked about Haller in the aftermath of the Charlton win and was complimentary towards the former Eintracht Frankfurt striker.
“He got two and tonight we’ve won 3-0, but I think we could have won by double that,” Moyes told the West Ham official website.
“It was great that Seb scored a couple of goals, it really is, because we need our forward players to be feeling confident about it. The two goals tonight I’m sure will help him.”
With West Ham clearly not having a lot of money to spend, there has been speculation over what role – if any – Haller will play at the club this season.
Recouping a sizeable amount of the fee paid for him 12 months ago would provide Moyes with funds to reinforce his squad, but it remains to be seen if a potential buyer can be found.
On the other hand, if Haller can start to rekindle some of the form he showed in Frankfurt, West Ham could have another excellent option in the final third for the 2020-21 season.