After a frustrating season last time out, Pedro Obiang wants to play an ‘influential’ role for West Ham United in 2018/19. The Spanish midfielder featured regularly during the opening half of the last campaign, scoring important Premier League goals against Huddersfield Town and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, a challenge during the Hammers’ FA Cup fourth-round defeat at Wigan Athletic at the end of January left the 25-year-old nursing a serious knee injury that ruled him out for almost the entire remainder of the season. Now, after a summer spent working on his fitness at Rush Green, Obiang is ready to return to action and is determined to make his mark under new manager Manuel Pellegrini.
“I always try to be influential,” he confirmed. “I think every player in the squad tries to give one thing to the team and mine is probably to stop the other team and start our attacks, and I try to improve this every day. For the team to have balance is important. We have players who have to score, a goalkeeper who has to save and defenders who have to defend, so everybody has to do his best in his position and I try to improve in mine.”