Felipe Anderson has revealed Chicharito’s warm welcome to West Ham United helped him become a Premier League star.
The Brazilian winger spoke little English and had no experience of the high-intensity game played in this country prior to his summer move from Italian club Lazio.
However, the Hammers’ Mexico international striker drew on his language skills – the pair communicate in a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish – and knowledge of English football to help Felipe Anderson integrate quickly and successfully.
The result is that both are enjoying their best periods in a Claret and Blue shirt, combining to score ten goals and assist four more to inspire the Irons’ recent rise up the Premier League standings.
Chicharito always let me know that I could count on him to finish my moves
Felipe Anderson
“Since I arrived, Chicharito always treated me well,” Felipe Anderson confirmed. “He gave me his trust on the pitch, he always let me know that I could count on him to finish my moves and like that we developed a good feeling and that has been important.
“And also we have a very good relationship off the pitch.”
So good has Felipe Anderson’s form been that he was shortlisted for Premier League Player of the Month for November and the clamour is growing for the 2016 Olympic Gold Medallist to earn a recall to the Brazil squad.
The player himself knows that will only follow if he continues to produce the goods for West Ham.
“I’m just thinking about the club at the moment,” he insisted. “Of course, it’s one of my goals, one of my dreams to play for Brazil, but I have to be at my top form when I’m called.
“I know I have the talent but I have to focus here at West Ham and play well here, to give my best for this team and to dream big.”
Brazil host the Copa America in 2019 but, in the meantime, Felipe Anderson and his clubmates have important Premier League matches to think about, starting with the visit of Watford to London Stadium on Saturday.
The Hammers go into that fixture on a four-game winning streak and, should they make it five, could go into Christmas in the top six if results elsewhere go their way.
Felipe Anderson, for one, would love to go nap.
“We know that the beginning was hard, it wasn’t what we expected, but we kept on working, we kept on grinding, and now things are very different, we are thinking to go as high as possible,” he added. “We are taking every match as it comes and will try to show our quality in every match to keep the streak going.
“Personally, it was also hard for me at the beginning, but my teammates helped me on the pitch, I managed to turn it around and now I’m happy to help the team to get good results and keep this run of wins going.”