West Ham United boss David Moyes is happy for Sebastien Haller following his maiden invitation to the Ivory Coast national team.
The France-born star and Wolves centre-back Willy Boly have been invited by the West African nation for their double-header 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures against Madagascar.
Thursday's call from Ivory Coast means Haller ditched France after playing for their youth teams from U16 to U21 level and Moyes thinks the Elephants have invited him because of his goalscoring potential.
“I’m pleased for Seb. He’s got a really good goalscoring record and I’m sure that’s why Ivory Coast have chosen him,” Moyes told the club website.
“It takes time to settle in the Premier League and quite often we expect an awful lot and everyone wants everything to happen so quickly.
“You make a new signing and you expect him to be in the team and him to be making a difference right away and you can see at several clubs that sometimes it takes a little bit of time to see how things work.
“We hope Seb can get his opportunity. This is a big chance to show exactly what he can do and show why West Ham valued him so highly.”
Haller joined West Ham for a reported club-record fee from Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2019.
Despite returning 12 goals across all competitions since the start of last season, Moyes is upbeat about the 26-year-old’s qualities ahead of their Premier League match against Fulham on Saturday.
“I’ve got to say he’s got a great reputation throughout Europe, Seb Haller. His goals in Germany were excellent at Frankfurt, so let’s hope he can bring them to West Ham,” the Scottish tactician continued.
“I would hope that I don’t need to categorise him that he can only play in a certain type of game. We want to try and bring in players because we’re always going to be up against good quality opposition.
“I’m sure in Germany he came up against the likes of Bayern Munich and Dortmund, who are top teams in Europe and he played in those games for Frankfurt, so I don’t want to put him in any sort of category.
“I want to see a big whole-hearted, committed centre-forward who we know can contribute to the team. We’ve got the makings of a good team and I want Seb to be part of it."
Haller has scored just a Premier League goal this campaign and he will be aiming to add to his tally when he makes his seventh appearance at London Stadium on Saturday.