West Ham Set To Change Targets In Hunt For Striker
I’m not sure whether I’ve been covering West Ham transfer news or trade union disputes in the 1980’s, but once again we’re talking about potential strikers in East London.
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We seem to have covered every possible angle on West Ham’s pursuit of Carlos Bacca and I’m now pretty certain that the player is going to reject us in the hope that he will find Champions League football, but I’ve been wrong before and maybe I’ll be wrong again.
But because the longer this whole thing draws out the lower the chances of the South American joining are, West Ham are rumoured to be considering a move for a few other targets.
Long time target Wissam Ben Yedder is all over the papers again, but it seems as though West Ham are more interested in securing him on loan due to concerns around his physicality not suiting the Premier League [ExWhuEmployee]. When he is apparently available for around £10m, I’d be straight in there rather than dancing around the issue. But there are 3 other names also in the mix.
We’ve covered two of the rumoured targets before, in the form of Simone Zaza and Christian Benteke. Both of these players are not going to be the first choice strikers at their respective clubs this season and the West Ham board are convinced they would be able to tempt both given the opportunity.
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However many fans seem unconvinced of Zaza’s ability, especially given the extremely strange penalty he took at the Euro’s featuring a tip toe run up that had social media whipping itself into a frenzy. He would be available for around £20m if you believe the papers, but he has already apparently rejected Wolfsburg to stay at Juventus so it remains to be seen if we can convince him to leave the Italian champions.
Benteke is a rumour that the West Ham fans have not enjoyed, mostly because Liverpool have stuck a fairly large £30m+ price tag on the striker despite him seeming out of his depth last season. Despite this, a quick poll I ran the other day indicated more fans would prefer the Belgian over the Juve striker.
So if you had to decide between the two, would people rather sign Zaza or Benteke? #WHUFC #COYI
— Green St. Hammers (@GreenStHammers) July 23, 2016
The new target, again according to this article from ExWhuEmployee, is one we have attempted to sign before, Loic Remy. He is a proven striker but his injury record makes him less attractive than someone of equal talents would be. He has been moved above the likes of Benteke and Bony in terms of the proven Premier League striker angle, but would not be the marquee signing that the West Ham board are after.
With Jonathon Calleri’s arrival expected to be announced imminently and the departure of Sakho and Valencia all but confirmed, would people be happy with a striker line-up of Carroll, Calleri, Remy and Ben Yedder? Or do we need a bigger name striker in the mix?