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There was a common criticism which often came the way of West Ham United and France Under-21 midfielder Soungoutou Magassa during his time across the Channel at AS Monaco.
A criticism you could also apply to the £14 million signing as his first season in the Premier League enters its final stretch.
Since arriving in August 2025, Soungoutou Magassa has found himself alternating between third-choice and fourth-choice at West Ham United.
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Some supporters even suggested that Mohamadou Kante should move ahead of Magassa after outshining his fellow Frenchman in the FA Cup fifth-round victory over Brentford.
And when reflecting upon what former Monaco boss Adi Hutter said about the 22-year-old back in November 2024, it is clear that the issues he faced in the Principality have followed him to East London.
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Hutter was speaking following Monaco’s 2-1 Cote d’Azur derby defeat by Nice a couple of seasons ago. A match in which Magassa was subbed off at half-time.
“It was tough for him in the derby. He may have made a few mistakes, but he is still a young player,” said the one-time Eintracht Frankfurt coach.
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“I think he has more the profile to be a good ‘number six’. [But], once again, it was not an easy match for him in Nice, especially since he quickly received a yellow card [in the 15th minute]. That is also why I decided to take him off at half-time.
“He can improve, to sometimes react faster or anticipate situations. But this position is difficult, because you have to be very reactive when losing the ball. In any case, I like his aggressiveness!”
In many of his 20 West Ham appearances, a similar trend can be spotted. Only Jarrod Bowen and Mateus Fernandes have more yellow cards than Magassa’s four, despite the fact he has only started eleven Premier League games.
Arguably the main concern surrounds Magassa’s tendency to dart out of position and leave big gaps in the centre of the park for the opposition to exploit. Magassa often jumps into challenges, misses them, and then finds himself easily bypassed.
Only Crysencio Summerville and the now-departed Lucas Paqueta average more fouls per game.
While that is not necessarily a bad thing – Rodri, viewed by many as the finest defensive midfielder in the game, is the master of ‘tactical fouls’ – one suspects Magassa could avoid giving away so many free-kicks or picking up so many cards if he learned how to position himself better while honing his often erratic pressing.
Aggression is frequently a virtue when it comes to ‘CDMs’.
Magassa, though, occasionally strays on the wrong side of the line, whether it be picking up cheap yellow cards or by leaving himself exposed by charging into ill-advised tackles in bad areas of the pitch.
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This wasn’t so much of an issue at times over in France.
Per Total Football Analysis, Magassa was Monaco’s ‘most-aggressive’ centre-back on the occasions he played in Hutter’s defensive trio. There was usually enough cover behind him to make up for those positional lapses.
In a deep-lying midfield role at West Ham, though, Nuno Espirito Santo requires greater positional discipline from the man tasked with shielding the defence.
“There were several occasions when [Ousmane] Dembele exposed Magassa’s aggression,” Total Football Analysis write when delving into a 5-2 PSG thumping back in 2023.
“[Dembele] receive deep on the right in space, dragging the Monaco centre-back out and into a 1v1 where Dembele could knock the ball past or around Magassa before exploding into the space now opened up behind the defender.
“However, there were also times when Magassa shone a light on his more positive 1v1 defending qualities, such as his ability to position his body intelligently, his spacing between himself and the attacker, and his agility.”
Magassa only turned 22 in October. This is also his first season outside of the Principality. Patience is required. Magassa opened up on the ‘intensity’ of the Premier League early in Nuno’s reign too, contrasting it to the more methodical pace of French football.
History is full of talented young footballers who came good after difficult starts.
But there are clearly a few long-standing issues in Magassa’s game that need fixing if he is to blossom into West Ham’s go-to number six.
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