West Ham were close to sign prolific forward last season

In the previous few years, West Ham have struggled to sign a quality centre forward to provide great quality and squad depth to their attack. Star forwards such as Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic were great additions, however left the London Stadium after a few inconsistent seasons at the club. Then West Ham also decided to spend huge transfer fees on signing Sebastien Haller and Gianluca Scamacca, who were both coming on the back of impressive goal scoring seasons.

However, they also struggled to justify their huge transfer fees and left the Hammers after a few years. Moreover, experienced West Ham striker Michail Antonio is also 34-years-old and hasn't been in great form as well as fitness since last season. Therefore, the Hammers again decided to sign a new number nine in this transfer window and despite Duran being their preferred choice, West Ham managed to sign Germany international Niclas Fullkrug.

West Ham were close to sign prolific forward last season

But they could have signed a reliable forward from the Championship last season, who is turning heads with his brilliant goalscoring displays in Europe. The player is Viktor Gyokeres, who was very close to joining the Hammers last season but instead signed for Sporting, where he has gone strength to strength since the beginning of the 2023/24 season. In 58 appearances for the Portuguese side, Gyokeres has netted 54 goals and has scored eleven goals this season as well as continuing his upward trajectory in terms of becoming one of the best forwards in European football. 

The 26-year-old would have been a reliable signing for West Ham for a few seasons and the Hammers would have commanded a huge transfer fee by selling him. Moreover the fact that Coventry sold their prolific striker to Sporting for £18 million is surprising as West Ham should have signed him for that transfer fee or could have brought him on a season long loan move and made his stay permanent at the London Stadium in the next season. This decision again highlights West Ham's struggles in signing quality forwards, who have scored only one Premier League goal in their previous two matches against Fulham and Chelsea.