I honestly don’t know what it is about West Ham United, but players seem to leave — and immediately start thriving.

The latest example is Luis Guilherme, who has wasted no time getting his career in Portugal up and running, scoring for Sporting Lisbon last night.

The 19-year-old was labelled one of Brazil’s three wonderkids when West Ham signed him from Palmeiras under the guidance of Tim Steidten. Yet under three successive managers, Guilherme never really got a proper run in the Hammers side and was sold to Sporting this summer for around £14 million including add-ons.

Playing in the Taça de Portugal, Guilherme opened the scoring in Sporting’s 3–2 win — cutting in from the wing and curling a lovely effort in from distance. A lovely goal by all accounts.

Luis Guilherme missed West Ham’s opener due to injury

Flourishing Everywhere But East London

It’s becoming a worrying pattern. Players depart the London Stadium and suddenly look reborn (with the exception of Mohammed Kudus of course).

We’ve already seen it recently with Niclas Füllkrug and Callum Marshall after their January exits, and now Guilherme is following the same script.

At this point, I’m just grateful...