West Ham’s next run of games sees them take on Bristol City in their FA Cup replay, Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Man United and Arsenal.
David Moyes arguably needs his best players available in order to negotiate those matches and the ones following, including in the Europa League.
There have been a few standout performers in 2023/24 for the Hammers including Mo Kudus, Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse.
However, Lucas Paqueta stands alone. The Brazilian makes everything tick and for him to be missing any length of time isn’t great for Moyes.
What’s worse is that it now appears he needs to see a specialist for the problem, per The Guardian (h/t Sky Sports).
The calf injury will, per current estimates, keep him out of action for four weeks, meaning that he would likely miss all of the aforementioned matches.
Whether that’s enough to tempt the powers that be in parting with some extra cash for a short-term fix isn’t clear.
One player doesn’t make a team of course, though Paqueta is vital to everything that West Ham do.
It’s clear that his absence is going to have a marked effect on the team over the next few weeks, so in that respect, the Hammers could be considered to be being proactive by addressing the situation now.