Likened to West Ham legend Tony Cottee, new signing Sam Baldock is fast proving money well spent for Sam Allardyce, much to the relief who have seen failed signing after failed signing in recent years.
The pacey striker signed from MK Dons in August for an undisclosed fee and has added further competition to an impressive front line boasting the likes of Carlton Cole, Frederic Piquionne and John Carew. Having made his MK debut aged just 16; Baldock scored an impressive 34 goals in 3 seasons, and had already scored 4 goals in 4 games for MK Dons before moving to the Hammers.
Baldock has made six appearances for the Hammers this season (three from the bench) and has scored 2 goals (both coming against Ipswich in September) making his goal ratio a goal every three games. Compared to Cole’s a goal every two and a half games and Carew’s goal every three and a half games, it’s very good indeed (Piquionne and Sears yet to score).
However there’s more to Baldock than his goals, his pace and ability to run the channels creates space for the big strikers to find space in the box. He also links the play by feeding off the big men when the ball comes long. At 22, Baldock is still very young and has some experienced Premier League players in Cole and Carew to learn from, but if he can continue his impressive goal scoring record for the Hammers then great things are expected for Baldock.
Like every Hammer, we long for the day that we no longer have to sell our best players, but Baldock could become a nice little profit for West Ham, if they cannot keep him from the grasps of the big Premier League clubs that will undoubtedly come sniffing if he lives up to his potential.
If you take into consideration his playing time-in one game he came on in injury time-it improves his goals to game ratio. Also his goals were against Blackpool, we lost 0-1 against Ipswich.
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