Jack Wilshere has been hailed as a £100million player by Manuel Pellegrini as he stands by for a first West Ham start in three months.
The former Arsenal midfielder, who arrived in the summer with a lengthy history of injury trouble, played the final five minutes of Saturday's 3-0 win at Newcastle – his first action since September 1.
Wilshere has recovered from ankle surgery and with Pellegrini keen to rotate his squad at the start of a busy December schedule, the 26-year-old could start in Tuesday's home game against Cardiff City.
Declan Rice, Robert Snodgrass, Pedro Obiang and captain Mark Noble have all performed well in midfield in Wilshere's absence, and youngster Grady Diangana has also established himself as part of the first team - but Pellegrini made it clear that he viewed Wilshere as a player who could come straight back into the side.
'Players of the quality of Wilshere at this moment can cost £100million, £90million, £70million,' he said.
'Good creative midfielders are very expensive. We took the risk and it has not been a good few months for him but we have the second part of the season and I hope he will play most of the games.
'In football, the most important thing is the quality. That you cannot buy – you either have it or you don't.
'After that, there are a lot of different things that you must add, like not having so many injuries. But it is never hard for good players to get into the team.'
Snodgrass has established himself as a regular pick despite arriving for pre-season training needing to lose weight.
'His reaction was so important to me – he didn't try to defend himself,' said Pellegrini. 'He said 'yes, I know, I must do it' and worked from that day 100%.'
Javier Hernandez scored twice at Newcastle just days after giving an interview to Spanish newspaper Marca saying that he may look for a January exit.
Pellegrini made it clear that would not be happening, saying: 'He is a very important player for us.'
