Mystery of missing star partially solved but West Ham still acting strangely over Maxwel Cornet

The mystery of a missing star has been partially solved but West Ham are still acting strangely over Maxwel Cornet.

The curious case of Maxwel Cornet continues to puzzle at West Ham one year after he arrived from Burnley.

West Ham fans were excited by what Cornet might bring to the side when he was signed for £17.5m in the last summer transfer window.

With his pace, energy and ability, Hammers fans were hopeful he could make a big difference.

But the Ivory Coast star would make just two starts for West Ham in his debut campaign, playing only 235 minutes all season long.

Cornet was out for five months with a rare calf injury sustained on his full West Ham league debut back in October last year.

The curious case of Cornet

He had barely featured prior to that following his summer arrival at West Ham.

While making his comeback from the injury Cornet spent a lot of time back in France where he had previously been with Lyon.

And when he was tentatively eased back into the West Ham setup towards the end of the season, it had been so long since he had been seen in the claret and blue that West Ham fans serenaded Cornet with a witty gallows humour chant.

The Guardian recently reported Cornet could be sold this summer after a disastrous first season in east London.

Last week board confidant Sean Whetstone claimed mystery surrounded Cornet’s omission from the West Ham squad which travelled to Australia for pre-season because he had not taken part in international duty for Ivory Coast in June.

Mystery of missing star partially solved but West Ham still acting strangely

The Hammers winger has been posting videos and images on social media doing fitness training during his break.

West Ham have not mentioned Cornet or explained why he has not been with the team Down Under.

Now the mystery of the missing star has been partially solved but West Ham are still acting strangely over Cornet.

West Ham have posted an article and picture gallery on the official website showing the club’s international players returning to pre-season training back at Rush Green.

Long haul flight caution reason behind tour squad omission?

The likes of Alphonse Areola, Nayef Aguerd, Said Benrahma, Thilo Kehrer, Vladimir Coufal and Tomas Soucek are all pictured and named in the article as players returning to action.

Cornet is pictured multiple times in the gallery but somewhat bizarrely is not mentioned by name in the article.

We can only assume one of a couple of scenarios is the case here.

Cornet has either been told he is not part of David Moyes’ plans hence being left behind.

Or, given the specific nature of his ultra rare calf issue, the club did not think it wise for the player to go on two mammoth long-haul flights within a week for the round-trip to Australia.

We think it likely the latter. But all will become clear soon enough.