West Ham United manager David Moyes has provided two updates on the long-term injuries to winger Maxwel Cornet and centre-back Kurt Zouma ahead of Friday’s clash with Brentford. The mystery surrounding it has led to concerns, with Cornet thought to be close to a return imminently. Depending on his latest scans, Moyes has said that should the next injection not work, they may have to operate on the issue.
David Moyes said: “Not too good, Maxwel has kept breaking down with his calf injury. He’s been to see a specialist in France, we may do an injection, or if this doesn’t work it may end up going to an operation on his calf at the moment, we’re just not seeing Maxi get back that quick. That could change tomorrow like that because it’s been like this for probably three months, maybe longer. I can’t remember the exact date. We’re just not seeing any signs of him, he’s not back training at the moment. He’s working in the gym or seeing specialists about his calf. Every time he’s come back, he’s broke down with it or he’s felt as if he’s not been able to train with it. He’s been to see several specialists, we’ve tried some different injections, we’ve tried different things to get it going but at the moment, we’re not getting any joy with it. He was in Paris this week seeing a specialist and I couldn’t actually tell you [the diagnosis]. “I think they’re trying to see if something’s going to work just now before probably the last option, which would be to operate if it’s not going to heal.”
While the news on Cornet is a concern, there is a more positive update on centre-back Zouma. The French defender underwent surgery on his knee a month ago and is closing in on a return. However, he has had a minor setback due to illness, with Moyes revealing that Zouma would have been in contention to play at present had it not been for the illness.
David Moyes added: “Kurt’s doing really, the virus he had a week and a half ago has probably put him back, where as if he hadn’t have had the virus, he probably would have been in contention. Now, we’ve got to try and get him up because of his fitness levels. His knee feels really good and he feels much freer with it. He’s not trained with us yet. He’s been out on the grass, he’s doing bits and pieces but he’s not quite ready to start training with us probably in the next few days with a bit of luck.”
