{"id":540384,"date":"2025-10-31T18:38:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/540384\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T18:38:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T18:38:19","slug":"nuno-says-west-ham-have-just-done-something-great-for-18m-flop-and-unbelievable-teenager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/540384\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuno says West Ham have just done something great for \u00a318m flop and ‘unbelievable’ teenager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shortly after Nuno Espirito Santo addressed the media on Friday afternoon, West Ham United announced an addition to his backroom staff at the Premier League outfit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, those who tuned in to watch Nuno preview Sunday\u2019s clash with Eddie Howe\u2019s Newcastle would have seen this coming.<\/p>\n

Former Under-21 coach Mark Robson earned a London Stadium promotion<\/a> earlier this month. He was handed a role in Nuno Espirito Santo\u2019s<\/a> first-team staff, alongside fellow academy coaches Billy Lepine, Gerard Prenderville and Steve Potts.<\/p>\n

West Ham United<\/a> are still very much in the process of cementing their new manager\u2019s behind-the-scenes hierarchy. Another new face could be in the dugout when Newcastle arrive in the capital, meanwhile.<\/p>\n

The Hammers have now confirmed that Rui Barbosa has been appointed as their Men\u2019s First Team Goalkeeping Coach. And, as Nuno reunites with a very familiar face, he feels that Mads Hermansen<\/a>, Alphonse Areola<\/a> and the extremely highly-regarded Finlay Herrick will benefit greatly from his nous and knowledge.<\/p>\n

\"MadsPhoto by Visionhaus\/Getty ImagesNuno Espirito Santo says Rui Barbosa will help Mads Hermansen at West Ham United<\/p>\n

Barbosa has been part of Nuno\u2019s staff at no fewer than six of his previous jobs.<\/p>\n

During spells at Porto, Wolves, Al-Ittihad, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur and Rio Ave, the 52-year-old helped coax arguably career-best performances out of the likes of Matz Sels, Rui Patricio and John Ruddy. <\/p>\n

He helped develop a young Jose Sa at Porto too, while also spending time with Iker Casillas during the Spanish legend\u2019s autumn days in the professional game.<\/p>\n

Considering the goalkeeping headache Nuno inherited at West Ham \u2013 Mads Hermansen remains on the bench behind Alphonse Areola<\/a> \u2013 it is no wonder he pushed for the appointment of a man he trusts to make a big impact on the training pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Rui can help us,\u201d Nuno said. \u201cHe has a lot of experience. He has been working with me for many, many years, and he\u2019s always been able to improve goalies.\u201d <\/p>\n

That Areola is back between the sticks in East London \u2013 only a few months after the club spent \u00a318 million on a supposed upgrade \u2013 rather sums up their problems right now. Chief among them, of course, being backfiring recruitment and the continued underperforming of many expensive acquisitions.<\/p>\n

Hermansen, relegated with Leicester City last term, has not featured since conceding 11 goals in his first four outings. <\/p>\n

Nuno hopes that the much-maligned Dane can turn a corner on Barbosa\u2019s watch. Interestingly, the head coach was also keen to mention Finlay Herrick, the 19-year-old who many see as a future West Ham number one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect [Barbosa to have an] effect on Alphonse, on Mads, on Lukasz [Fabianski], on the young lad Finlay,\u201d Nuno adds. \u201cI think it is going to be important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linus Kandolin called Finlay Herrick \u2018unbelievable\u2019 at West Ham<\/p>\n

West Ham surprisingly re-called Herrick<\/a> from a loan spell at Boreham Wood this week. <\/p>\n

The recent England Under-20 call-up was in outstanding form at a team sitting fourth in the National League, and dreaming of a first-ever promotion to the EFL. In his 10 appearances, he kept five clean sheets and even saved a penalty.<\/p>\n

Linus Kandolin, who enjoyed a brief spell on Graham Potter\u2019s staff at the beginning of the season, feels West Ham have an \u2018unbelievable\u2019 talent in Herrick<\/a>. In addition to his penchant for penalty saves, the teenager has made real strides with the ball at his feet of late.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sent Fin on loan to Boreham Wood in Non-League,\u201d Kandolin told Goalkeeper.com<\/a>. \u201cHe needed a new challenge and to play men\u2019s football.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s unbelievably good on the ball, but he needs to challenge himself by commanding his area and defending the box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to see what goalkeepers are good at and where they need to improve. Every goalkeeper will have a different pathway, but our main objective was to put that time into individual improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nuno, meanwhile, is expected to start Areola for a sixth successive league match against Newcastle. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we got here, the change in the goalkeeper position had already been made [by Potter],\u201d Nuno told ViaPlay<\/a> a fortnight ago. \u201cBut we have seen a good and top professional goalkeeper [in Hermansen] who works, like many of his teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the relationship is developing, and it becomes normal as time goes by.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I mentioned to you, it was a decision that was made before our arrival, this change in the goalkeeper position. And we felt that, when we came to the club and had limited time, we had to continue with Alphonse.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut all the players will get their chances. It\u2019s a new start for all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shortly after Nuno Espirito Santo addressed the media on Friday afternoon, West Ham United announced an addition to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[174134,94,120749,28844,101,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-540384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alphonse-areola","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mads-hermansen","11":"tag-nuno-espirito-santo","12":"tag-premier-league","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115470239113978526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}