Why Felipe Anderson may not welcome West Ham targeting Simone Inzaghi

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Simone Inzaghi appears to have become the latest name linked with the West Ham United job, with the Guardian reporting that the Hammers hierarchy are fans of the Italian.

Manuel Pellegrini appears to be facing a fight to save his job at the London Stadium. The Guardian has named a number of managers West Ham have their eye on should they make a change, and Inzaghi is one of them.

The Guardian notes however, that Inzaghi leaving Lazio looks unlikely. And there may be one member of the West Ham squad who may be delighted to hear that a move for Inzaghi appears to be something of a non-starter.

Felipe Anderson spent just over two seasons playing under Inzaghi with the Biancocelesti. And he actually enjoyed a fair amount of success.

In 57 Serie A appearances across the two full campaigns they worked together, the Brazilian scored eight goals and contributed 16 assists. His record is immediately more impressive when you consider that he started just 42 times.

Training ground bust-up

However, it appears that their relationship soured during the latter stages of Anderson’s time in Italy.

Calciomercato reported in February 2018 that Anderson and Inzaghi had a bust-up on the training ground. And the manager confirmed that the attacking midfielder was working on his own and would miss the next game.

“He is a top player but right now he is not ok and he is training aside from the rest of the team,” he said, as reported by Calciomercato. “I’m not going to include him in our squad list for the Napoli clash. I want to see another behaviour, he has always played with me but I want to see something different now, a different behaviour.”

Anderson would return to the squad soon after. But it was a month before he was starting regularly again.

Of course, a lot of time has passed. And it would unfair to assume that they would not be able to work together if they were reunited at West Ham.

But it would certainly be intriguing to see how they would work if Inzaghi did make a move.