Fancy a Costa West Ham?

Its transfer deadline day and you’ve guessed it, West Ham still haven’t signed a new striker. Its been 23 days since West Ham sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax and despite the links to different players, a centre forward still hasn’t come through the door.

Time is now well and truly running out for West Ham and for David Moyes. Not signing a striker today could very easily ruin what has been a dream first half of the season for West Ham.

Two of the most likely targets for Moyes seems to be headed elsewhere, with Josh Maja in advanced talks with Fulham over a loan move according to Fabrizio Romano, while Josh King is seemingly in a three-way transfer battle between Southampton, Everton and Fulham according to various sources.

With options starting to fade, West Ham might have just been given a lifeline.

According to Tancredi Palmeri, Diego Costa has been offered to West Ham who desperately need a new striker.

Unless by some miracle West Ham actually have someone lined up, they need to jump at the chance to sign the former Chelsea ace.

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

Positives

The Spaniard has three years of Premier League experience and was a consistent goal scorer for Chelsea scoring 58 goals in 120 appearances for the club according to Transfermarkt.

Costa was unstoppable during his last season at Chelsea and scored 20 Premier League goals during the blues title-winning season.

While the Spaniard may not have been as prolific since, he was mainly used as a substitute for Antoine Griezmann at Atlético Madrid and didn’t get much of a look in under Diego Simeone.

Due to his experience, Costa would be able to provide reliable cover for Michail Antonio if he was to get injured.

The deal would also be favourable to David Sullivan as Costa is currently without a club after his Atletico contract was terminated earlier in the season. This means that we would be able to pay his higher wages due to there being no transfer fee.

Negatives

A big issue with this potential transfer is that Costa could upset the dressing room and ruin the great team atmosphere that Moyes has built at the club. Costa fell out with Antonio Conte at Chelsea and was effectively forced out of the club. We don’t want that happening at West Ham anymore.

Costa is also 32 years old and will likely want astronomical wages which could potentially put off our owners from making the signing. The player has also rejected other clubs who have offered him a short-term deal and the Spaniard wants a long-term deal, meaning West Ham could be put out of the running.

Overall while Costa isn’t the ideal option, he does now seem to be West Ham’s last chance at bringing in a striker unless there is a major turn of events. West Ham simply cannot go into the second half of the season without a back up forward and should do everything they can to get Costa or another target through the door before the deadline at midnight.