West Ham striker Albian Ajeti is reportedly on the verge of completing a loan move to Celtic with an option to buy for £5million. But why hasn’t it worked out at the London Stadium for the Swiss international?
The 23-year-old striker joined the West Ham for £8million on summer transfer deadline day last August. He arrived with much fanfare, averaging a goal in every two games for Swiss side FC Basel during his second stint at his hometown club from 2017 to 2019. While he was expected to play second fiddle to frontman Sebastien Haller, most will have wanted him to rival Haller for the starting spot.
Ajeti came to the London Stadium in pretty good form too. Just before he signed, he started three games for FC Basel, including two Champions League qualifiers, where he scored for Basel away at PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their second-round qualifier. The tie would finish 4-4 on aggregate, with FC Basel progressing on away goals. The other game he started was FC Basel’s first Super League game away at FC Sion. FC Basel won 4-1, with Ajeti scoring one and assisting two.
And while he was signed on deadline day and was not in the squad for the opening day loss to Manchester City, he was an unused substitute by Manuel Pellegrini for the next seven league games after that. Arguably, quite surprising given that Javier Hernandez was sold to Sevilla and Michail Antonio suffered an injury at the start of the campaign which would keep him out until mid-November.
Ajeti did make his West Ham bow in August, playing the full ninety minutes of the 2-0 EFL Cup win at Newport County. He didn’t feature again until the third round drubbing at Oxford City at the end of September though, playing the full ninety of the 4-0 defeat.
In the Premier League, after making his league debut as a substitute in the 2-0 loss at Everton in October, he started to feature more, coming on as a substitute in the dying embers of games but little else. Pellegrini stuck with Haller, who only netted two league goals from the start of September up to Pellegrini’s sacking in December.
Would David Moyes’ appointment turn around the fortunes of the Swiss striker? Sadly not. With Moyes initially sticking with Haller and Antonio now back fully fit, Ajeti was slipping even further down the pecking order.
Under Moyes so far, Ajeti has played ten minutes of Premier League action across two substitute appearances. He wasn’t even in the squad for the FA Cup third-round win at Gillingham in early January.
But he did get a chance in the fourth round at home to West Brom, alongside Haller, with Antonio also playing 45 minutes in that game. West Ham lost 1-0 at home though, with all three frontmen failing to find the target.
The Swiss international has flickered between being an unused substitute and being omitted completely from the matchday squads since then. He has played four minutes of competitive action since football restarted from lockdown.
With the absence of Sebastien Haller at the beginning of football’s restart, up steps Michail Antonio. Before lockdown, Antonio had scored two league goals, mostly due to his long-term injury. After lockdown, his crucial contribution saw him net eight, including sensationally scoring four away at Norwich City to boost the Hammers survival hopes.
There can be question marks over whether Ajeti has been given a fair chance or not. There is a case to be made for him to have featured more while Pellegrini was at the helm. But in the second half of the season, with Moyes steering West Ham to Premier League safety thanks in large part to Michail Antonio netting crucial goals post-lockdown, Antonio couldn’t be dropped.
Moyes rarely deviates from playing a solitary striker, similarly to Pellegrini. With Antonio’s form and Haller on the comeback trail, making five substitute appearances in the final five games, Ajeti continued to be frozen out.
It seems as though it’s a mixture of not being given the chance to shine earlier on in the season and form of other strikers that has created a difficult season for Ajeti. Arguably, he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place at West Ham at present, so a loan move to Celtic could be best for all parties.
Celtic fans reportedly being excited at the prospect of the loan deal tells they’ve seen something in him they like. It’s a shame it hasn’t worked out at West Ham for the young Swiss striker.