DJ Odemwingie?

Recent rumours are linking West Ham United with yet another duo of strikers.  This time, both QPR’s DJ Campbell and West Brom’s Peter Odemwingie have been mentioned as possible targets for the club as they aim to push for automatic promotion and bring in someone with Premiership experience.  Both strikers have proven themselves on varying levels, with Odemwingie’s being a bit more extensive and exotic.  Both players are 30 years old and, if they signed, would probably end their career at West Ham.  Who would you rather see in claret and blue? Who has the ability to help the club achieve not only promotion but a stable return to the top flight

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A quick glance at this season thus far reveals a number of things.  Firstly, Odemwingie has 17 appearances for West Brow to Campbell’s 10 appearances for Queens Park Rangers.  More telling is that of Campbell’s 10 appearances, 8 of them have been as a substitute, compared with only 4 substitute appearances by Odemwingie.  With those stats in mind, Odemwingie has 4 goals and an assist to his name, whereas Campbell has just a single goal.  This is a far cry from the DJ Campbell  we all knew from last year when he was Blackpool’s front man in their Premier League season.

 

Indeed neither striker is on the type of form they were last year, as they both finished with about the same in the 2010/2011 campaign.  Odemwingie had 15 goals and 7 assists on 32 appearances,  while Campbell had 13 goals and 1 assist on 31 appearances.  DJ Campbell’s career has seen him play in the Premier League, the Championship, and League 1.  Odemwingie has played in the Premier League, Ligue 1 in France, and even a few Champions League matches.  However, while stats can paint a certain picture, it can be a limited one.  There are no stats for movement off the ball or overall team play.

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As far as each player’s particular style is concerned, Campbell seems to be more of a lead-the-line, get on the end of moves type of striker.  The slightly taller Odemwingie is a player who prefers to be involved in the build-up play but also has the ability to finish off moves quite nicely.  Personally, with Carlton Cole, John Carew, and Frederic Piquionne, I don’t think West Ham really needs a striker that can lead the line and not contribute much to the team play.  I’m not saying that that type of striker isn’t useful, but I do feel that West Ham would benefit greatly from an energetic player with the technique to play a nice ball for an assist as well as smartly finish.  Another thing that shouldn’t be overlooked is that Odemwingie has a bit of vision in his assists, and West Ham have definitely been lacking some creativity in the final third of the pitch.  For me, of the two, we should try to bring in Odemwingie.  That being said, I don’t see West Brom being too fond of the idea of him leaving, nor do I see QPR wanting to part with Campbell, as they remain thin on strikers.  No one knows if these rumours have any foundation to begin with, but I hope they do, and I hope we bring in some new signings soon.

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