Should West Ham be battling for Andrea Belotti?

Despite West Ham desperately needing a new striker in the January transfer window, David Moyes and co failed to bring a new number 9 to the London Stadium.

While there is reason behind the decision, the Hammers have already had a couple of injury scares to Michail Antonio and have now lost “back up Striker” Andriy Yarmolenko for the rest of the season due to a torn knee ligament.

Losing Yarmolenko is already proof that another forward should have been signed because if Antonio gets injured, the Hammers will have NO recognized senior strikers in their squad.

David Moyes didn’t want to rush and bring in a player “just for the sake of it” to West Ham though.

This is probably better for West Ham in the long run as it means that Moyes will have until the summer to scout and find the player he thinks will make the most impact at the London Stadium whilst not breaking the bank.

As usual, West Ham have been linked to a whole host of players including the likes of; Sevilla’s Youssef En-Nesyri, Brentford’s Ivan Toney, Southampton’s Danny Ings and Blackburn’s Adam Armstrong.

However, West Ham could be missing a trick by not tracking the situation of one of Italy’s most underrated Strikers, Andrea Belotti.

The Italian talisman has gone under the radar for a number of years and has always looked capable of playing at a bigger club than Torino.

He could be the perfect fit for West Ham and they should look at reviving their interest in one of their former targets.

Here are some positives and negatives of signing Belotti:

Positives

Belotti has been a consistent goal scorer for Tornio ever since he arrived from Palermo in 2015 and he has scored 12+ goals a season for the past five years in Turin.

West Ham have severely lacked a consistent goal scorer for years and it has really held the Hammers back in many respects. Belotti could be the perfect solution.

Belotti has had some fantastic goalscoring seasons for Torino, scoring 17 goals in 2018/19, 22 goals in 2019/20 and hit a career-best of 28 goals in 2016/17 according to TransferMarkt.

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Even at his “worst”, the Italian has either equalled or outscored West Ham’s recent strikers scoring 12 goals in the 2015/16 season and scoring 13 goals in the 2017/18 campaign.

Torino’s talisman has already scored 11 goals and assisted a further 6 goals in the Serie A this season and he will only add to that tally.

Despite being well known for his clinical finishing, Belotti is also a great team player and has bagged 25 assists so far in his Torino career according to TransferMarkt.

This is perfect for West Ham as they need a striker who can score goals whilst also having the ability to bring others into play.

Belotti is still only 27 years old and has at least four years left of his prime playing days, meaning he should be able to hit the ground running for a new team with his experience.

Torino are currently 17th in the Serie A and are only five points off the relegation zone, meaning the Italian side are in real danger of getting relegated.

This would really boost West Ham’s chances of signing the player, especially if Tornio get relegated to Serie B as Torino would have to sell their best players for cut-price fees.

West Ham would have a great chance at convincing Belotti to join if they got European football and in doing so, the Italian would bring some European experience into the squad after he scored 6 goals in the Europa League qualifiers last season.

Another factor that might help West Ham’s case is the 27-year-olds contract situation. According to TransferMarkt, Belotti’s contract runs out on the 30th of June 2022 meaning he is entering the final year of his deal.

This means that it will be Torino’s last chance to get a decent price for the Italian international before he leaves for free next summer. As a result, West Ham should be able to get him for much less than was being originally asked for.

Negatives

Belotti’s price tag is set at around £40 million according to TransferMarkt and it is hard to believe that West Ham would pay that much for a player in the near future after Sebastien Haller failed to fit in following his club-record move.

Tornio would have to lower their asking price to around the £30 million mark for West Ham to go in for the player. However, if Tornio does get relegated then they would be forced to accept a cut-price deal for their star player and even if they don’t make the drop, the player may force a move out of the club.

The main issue, however, seems to be the competition for Belotti’s signature. According to Football Italia, both Juventus and AC Milan are reportedly interested in signing the Italian and if this is the case it will be incredibly difficult to convince Belotti to join, especially as the 27-year-old is a boyhood AC Milan fan.

While it would be a huge battle to convince Belotti to make the switch to East London, the Italian could be the missing part of the jigsaw to turn West Ham into regular European challengers.

The transfer window is a crazy time and Stranger deals have happened before. It would be a real sign of ambition if West Ham competed with two football giants and even more so if they won that battle. It’s an opportunity that West Ham should definitely be looking at.