West Ham To Turn To Caligari’s Giovanni Simeone?

With West Ham seemingly ending their interest in Sevilla Striker Youseff En-Nesryi, the Hammers have now moved onto their next target. According to Spanish news outlet Marca the En-Nesryi deal collapsed after Sevilla’s manager Julian Lopetegui said that the player was going nowhere, paired with the fact that En-Nesryi is said to be keen on staying in Spain.

West Ham’s next target seems to be Cagliari Striker Giovanni Simeone, who is the son of current Athletic Madrid manager Diego Simeone.

West Ham are said to have made a first offer for the 25-year-old and have offered a loan with an option to buy in the summer according to Sky Sports. However as predicted, the Italian side are not fully convinced by this bid.

Signing Simeone could be a bit of a risk for West Ham as the player is untested outside of Serie A but he also could turn out to be a bargain signing for Moyes’ side.

Here are some positives and negatives for West Ham potentially signing Simeone:

Positives

When in form Simeone is a great goal scorer and he has proven so over the past years, having currently scored 49 Serie A goals in his four years in Italy. His best goal-scoring tally came in the 2017/18 season, where he scored 14 league goals for Florentina according to Transfermarkt.

Simeone has also reached double figures in two other seasons, scoring 12 goals for Genoa in the 2016/17 season and also scoring 12 for Caligari in the 2019/20 campaign. This shows that the player has the ability to be that consistent goal scorer we have been lacking for years.

Despite being 5’11, Simeone is also good in the air and would add to our attacking threat from set-pieces.

Another positive is that he is only 25-years-old which means that he is entering his prime years as a footballer, while still having room to improve. As a result of this, the player would have a high sell-on value if he hit the ground running at the London Stadium.

He is also known for his Energy and high work rate which is exactly what Moyes is looking for.

Negatives

The Argentinian Striker has slowed down this season and has only scored 5 goals for Cagliari, who are currently 17th in the league and only one point of the relegation zone.

While this could be down to the Italian sides poor form this season, its not the first time that the Argentine has had an off season.

During the players second season at Florentina in the 2018/19 campaign, he only managed 6 league goals all season. He was then sent out on loan to Caligari who bought him permanently after his loan ended.

The player has had a couple of inconsistent seasons but joining the right club with a set up that would suit him could eradicate that inconsistency.

Overall, Simeone could be a great signing for West Ham and he could definitely help take the weight Michail Antonio’s shoulders. He’s a young and exciting striker who ticks all the boxes for the type of player that Moyes is after.

If West Ham could agree to a deal for the Argentine, he could be the striker we need to help fire us into Europe next season.