West Ham must try and sign Rico Henry

As the transfer window is open West Ham can try and improve on weakened areas of the squad. Rico Henry would be perfect to solve the issues at left-back.

Henry is currently contracted to Brentford and preparing for the play-off final against Fulham on Tuesday. The Bees have been excellent this season defensively and have had the second-best defence in the Championship. Whereas West Ham had one of the worst defences in the Premier League conceding 62 goals.

The English full-back has been a big part of the Brentford solidity. Henry may not have outshone anyone in the team in a particular stat, but instead been consistently solid in many areas. Henry’s defensive contributions have been ranked and he has shown that he is able to defend well and attack well.

Henry arguably has been unlucky not to have contributed more than just the 3 assists he has made this season. The 23-year-old has made 100 crosses over the season, averaging over two a game. This is far better than both of West Ham regular first-team left-backs, Aaron Cresswell and Arthur Masuaku have only averaged 0.8 and 0.3 crosses per ninety minutes. The two current hammers only provided one assist between them last season showing Henry as the superior attacking full-back.

Brentford’s attacking style of football has attracted a lot of interest. Players like Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma are going to be chased all summer, even from West Ham, who have been linked to the two.

While the attention is on Brentford’s impressive attacking talent, West Ham should try and sneak in a move for Henry. The left-back would improve the Hammers squad more so than any attacking player signed. Cresswell and Masuaku could be on their way out of the club after poor seasons and Henry would be a good start in replacing them.

According to transfermarkt.com Henry is valued at £1.8 million, but the Hammer would have to stump up more than that. A bid of around £5 million could be enough to tempt the Bees into selling the flying left-back.