West Ham Linked to Top-Six Striker on Loan

Another month into the season and another transfer rumor linked to West Ham. Chelsea’s Alvaro Morata has had a slow start to the season for Chelsea and is well behind Olivier Giroud as the first choice striker, is a move to East London on the horizon for the misfiring forward?

No.

Sorry, I was just being straight to the point, but it doesn’t seem likely that Morata will move East to take his talents to the West Ham any time soon. He probably doesn’t want to go anywhere near that the London Stadium right now anyway after Lukasz Fabianski robbed him of the go-ahead goal in their most recent match, but thats beside the point.

The rumor has picked up pace after a story broke about Manuel Pellegrini reportedly wanting Morata in the summer transfer window. West Ham were apparently in for a loan deal on the striker after Chelsea vacated Antonio Conte as their manager in July. The idea makes sense as West Ham had committed a lot of money to Yarmolenko, Diop, and Anderson at this time, so a loan deal with a fee would have fit the mold for West Ham.

With that being said this seems to be a lazy game of ‘connect the dots’ regarding West Ham and the search for a striker. Why? I’ll give you three reasons:

• There were rumors of Marko Arnautovic leaving West Ham this summer, creating a marketplace for striker links to West Ham
• Antonio Conte was dismissed and Morata was his man
• Morata was struggling so a loan move away from a spotlight club like Chelsea could have been a reasonable move (a la Michy Batshuayi)
• Maurizio Sarri could move Morata to bring in a striker he saw as a fit for his Chelsea team

And factors that made West Ham a target landing place for Morata during the season:

• West Ham get off to a terrible start with few goals scored
• Marko Arnautovic leaves three matches early with injuries and misses Chelsea match with a knee injury
• Lucas Perez gets rag-dolled in the press for “refusing to warm up” which was a false story but allows for striker links to make sense

These points create a skeleton for a story about West Ham being open for a loan move for Morata, however, there is no meat on these bones what so ever. West Ham are, for the foreseeable future, the Marko Arnautovic show and until he stops scoring and creating at the pace that he currently is, this isn’t going to change.

As well, West Ham really don’t need to be spending money on or bringing in any more strikers. On the club currently, West Ham have Arnautovic, Perez, Chicharito, and Michail Antonio with Xande Silva lighting their U23 team on fire with goals (currently injured). Their depth chart for strikers is deep and doesn’t justify the rumor.

When it comes down to it West Ham will always be a target for stories like these simply because of how active the fanbase is on social media. The rumor rags will post stories to rile up the intense supporters because it’s a tactic that usually works!

West Ham and Morata are not a match made in heaven but are more realistically a match made in the writers’ room at The Daily Star or The Express. Either way, West Ham are just fine without Morata because Arnautovic is already better than him.