£20 million former West Ham transfer target scores first half hat-trick
- West Ham were interested in signing in-form striker Viktor Gyokeres from Coventry City last season.
- Gyokeres joined Sporting in a £20 million transfer move and recently scored a first half hat-trick.
By Rahul Das
Last year, West Ham were among a few clubs across Europe's top-five leagues who were interested in signing Coventry City's in-form striker Viktor Gyokeres. However, West Ham were also involved in negotiations with Manchester City regarding a swap deal involving Lucas Paqueta and promising midfielder Cole Palmer, who later joined Chelsea in a £40 million transfer move.
As a result, Paqueta stayed at West Ham and the Hammers also missed out on signing Gyokeres, who joined Sporting instead in a £20 million transfer move. Since then, Gyokeres has gone strength to strength at Sporting scoring 43 goals across all competitions in his debut season, while West Ham's strikers Michail Antonio and Danny Ings struggled for both form and fitness last season.
£20 million former West Ham transfer target scores first half hat-trick
West Ham haven't managed to sign any world-class goalscorer in the previous five seasons and now, Gyokeres is another former transfer target which the Hammers couldn't bring to the London Stadium. Currently, West Ham's first choice centre forward Niclas Fullkrug is recovering from his injury and Antonio as well as Ings have been mostly inconsistent with their finishing in front of the goal.
On the other hand, Gyokeres has found the back of the net 20 times already in the ongoing season and recently scored an impressive first half hat-trick in a 5-1 league win against Estrela Amadora. The 26-year-old later scored his fourth goal of the match and won the Man of the Match award as well for another match-winning display for Sporting.
Next. Lopetegui again gave limited playing time to impressive star in away defeat. Lopetegui again gave limited playing time to impressive star in away defeat. dark
If West Ham had signed Gyokeres last season, the Hammers could have been among the favourites to qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season as well, and would have received a significant transfer fee after selling Gyokeres to a top European club in a few seasons. However, that isn't the case and the Hammers would want to make better signings to improve their attack in the upcoming transfer windows.
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