West Ham United has terminated the loan spell of Chelsea midfielder Yossi Benayoun. Benayoun was placed on loan to West Ham in August last year. The loan spell was for the whole season, but, because of the injuries, Benayoun had to remain out of action most of the time during his tenure at West Ham and the Israeli international managed to start only four games for the Hammers. That’s why, the West Ham management decided to terminate his loan and sent him back to Chelsea.
The last match that Benayoun played for the Hammers was against Newcastle United in November last year. West Ham had won that match by 1-0. Benayoun had played in that match for 52 minutes. After that, Gary O’Neil substituted him.
Confirming the termination of Benayoun’s loan spell, the manager of West Ham United, Sam Allardyce said, “He wasn’t able to play as many matches as we wanted him to play because of the injuries. Had he played regularly for us, we would have loved to continue the loan spell. But, because he was spending most of the time sitting on the bench, so, we decided to send him back.”
Benayoun had signed for Chelsea in 2010. Chelsea had bought him from Liverpool after paying a transfer fee of 5 million Pounds. He has featured for the Blues in only 11 matches so far. He had spent the last season playing for Arsenal on loan.
Benayoun is not expected to get too many playing opportunities for the Blues in the remaining part of this season. There is very little possibility that Rafa Benitez would prefer Benayoun ahead of Marko Marin and Oscar.
When Benayoun was asked about his brief tenure at West Ham, he said, “It was not that good. I would have liked to play a few more games, but, the injuries didn’t let me do that. It’s really disappointing. But, that’s the way it goes. The injuries are not something which we can control. I hope that I would get fit soon and would get a few playing opportunities for Chelsea.”
