West Ham United winger Maxwel Cornet made his return to action for the first time in over five months for the club’s under-21s on Friday night.
The Ivory Coast international had been out of action for more than five months with a calf injury but after returning to full training in recent weeks, was named in the Hammers’ under-21s side that played against Premier League 2 leaders Manchester City at Rush Green on Friday night.
Cornet started as a left winger in a 3-4-3 formation alongside forwards Kamarai Swyer and Divin Mubama in Mark Robson’s side’s forward line.
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In his 45 minute outing, Cornet had a great chance to open the scoring from just outside of the penalty area, combining well down the left with teenage wing-back Regan Clayton before shooting first-time with his left foot as his effort curled over the crossbar.
City took the lead in the first half through Kian Breckin’s strike, but Cornet almost levelled the game on the stroke of half-time with a header.
After Mubama had a shot blocked, the ball fell out wide to Dan Chesters, whose cross found Cornet, only for his headed effort to be cleared off the line.
At the break, Cornet was replaced by Armstrong Okoflex, but City really stepped up a gear in the second half.
Oscar Bobb scored shortly after the restart to make it 2-0, with Freddie Potts (own goal), Breckin and an Alex Robertson penalty putting the Sky Blues 5-0 up with 16 minutes remaining.
West Ham did pull a goal back with the final kick of the game when Mubama headed in from a Chesters cross, his ninth goal in his last seven Premier League 2 matches.
Cornet’s runout may boost his chances of being involved for the Hammers later this week when they take on Cypriot outfit AEK Larnaca in the first of two legs in the Europa Conference League’s round of 16.
Despite missing West Ham’s last 25 matches in all competitions this season, Cornet (three) still ranks joint-second for first-team assists this season alongside Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta. Only Said Benrahma (four) has more.
Cornet has provided three assists and won two penalties in the Europa Conference League this season, averaging an assist or penalty won every 66.8 minutes in Europe this term.
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