Former Portugal international Jorge Costa has torn into West Ham United winger Felipe Anderson for the Brazilian’s slack efforts whilst on loan with FC Porto.
Costa, who graduated from the Porto academy before captaining the Liga NOS giants during his playing days, has brandished Anderson as a “big disappointment” during a recent interview with O Jogo.
Anderson joined the Estadio do Dragao natives on a season-long loan this summer after failing to impress David Moyes last term, with the Scot ultimately preferring a sizable loan fee and the Brazilian’s wage being covered than to utilise his services after failing to secure a permanent transfer.
Moyes called on the 27-year-old to start just four of his 10 Premier League appearances between replacing Manuel Pellegrini at the London Stadium and sanctioning the temporary transfer, with Anderson also offering his first and only goal during the Scot’s first top-flight fixture back with the Hammers.
Porto are yet to see any return from their agreement to cover Anderson’s wages, said to be in excess of £100,000-per-week, as the former SS Lazio star Pellegrini signed for a then-club-record £36million has featured for just 49 minutes across all competitions to date.
Porto boss Sergio Conceicao is yet to award the one-time Brazil international his first start, either, instead favouring Anderson from the bench while even leaving the attacker out of his matchday squad to face Olympique de Marseille in the Champions League entirely.
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The forward’s struggles saw Costa, who currently manages Romanian club CS Gaz Metan Medias, tell O Jogo: “Anderson is, for now, a big disappointment.”
The 50-cap ex-international is not the first to question Anderson, either, as Porto boss Conceicao recently told Desporto Ao Minuto that his early impression of the Irons outcast was that he is not committing his all to the Liga NOS side and must forget his prior achievements in order to be a success in the future.
“Felipe has this notion, that in order to return to having brilliant moments as he had, it is necessary to work hard,” he said.
“Anything he does now can have beautiful consequences in the future, and everything that happened no longer matters, he stays at home in the museum. The important thing is what you will do at FC Porto.”
Moyes will undoubtedly agree with Conceicao that all that matters for Anderson right now is what he can achieve with Porto, as any further failings in Portugal this season will cause the West Ham manager to have nightmares in 2021 should he again try and sell him.
Any hopes Anderson has of reviving his Irons career next year will also come short, unless he can prove to Moyes that he can offer more than the one goal from four big chances and four assists recorded throughout the 2019/20 Premier League campaign, per SofaScore.
AND in other news, David Moyes enjoyed a narrow escape on a £31.5m sensation West Ham courted this summer.