Comparing this and last January for West Ham’s marquee strikers

The Hammers kicked off 2020 in style, with a lopsided win over Bournemouth on David Moyes’ second debut for West Ham. With Sebastien Haller scoring, let’s compare January 2019 to now, and see what we can expect.

Sebastien Haller forced himself onto the scoresheet against Bournemouth, thumping a well-placed cross into the back of the net with an acrobatic scissor kick. The French striker needed this goal as he only had one in his last eleven matches, coming against Southampton in the 1-0 win. He hasn’t been as prolific as believed, but he’s off to a great start to 2020 and all signs point to him improving under the new manager.

Haller was quoted post-game saying that his early adaptation to West Ham hasn’t gone as good as he or the club would have wanted, but with the supporters and his teammates behind him, the club can accomplish big things to grow the reputation of West Ham. It appears Haller is all-in on the Hammers despite his slow start, which is music to Hammers fans’ ears.

The pessimist in me says that this is just the player spouting off some half-hearted message to make the fans happy, but Haller, at just 25 years old, wants to prove himself in the Premier League and won’t get a better chance at doing that anywhere else than West Ham. The optimist in me says that his ‘all-in’ type message puts him far away from Marko Arnautovic in the loyalty characterization.

Just 12 months ago Hammers supporters were trying to shut out the idea of Marko Arnautovic leaving West Ham for China, of all places after rumors resurfaced in January of his departure. The rumors originally kicked up in the summer when his brother and agent continued Arnautovic’s shopping around the world.

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Hearing more from his agent than himself, Arnautovic eventually did leave West Ham to chase trophies in China, the biggest joke in recent footballing history. The gifted Austrian striker was actually moving for the increased wages Chinese teams paid for European talent which has now since been reduced to 49k/week, ironically enough.

Supporters endured links after link and rumor after rumor of Arnautovic leaving and despite his best efforts he actually remained through January and pushed on into the season. He had a laughable message to fans stating “I’m back” after not actually leaving anywhere other than mentally checking out and screwing over his team for four weeks,

As we all now know, Arnautovic got his move away from the club in the summer. This opened the space and cash for Sebastien Haller to join West Ham. A trade well worth making, if for nothing else than the incessant links surrounding our marquee striker stopping. The Iron’s are not a selling club anymore, but when players like Arnautovic or Dimitri Payet force the club’s hand, it’s hard not to be in those situations. The reinvestment in Haller shows that the non-selling reputation hasn’t changed.

Haller has a new manager, one who got the most out of Arnautovic in his first stint as manager. Perhaps Moyes can do the same for Haller, too. He is a talented link-up player and thrived alongside Michail Antonio and Felipe Anderson up top. Onward and upward for Haller, the fortunes of West Ham will follow him, too.