West Ham United currently have an abundance of striking options at present, but only 2 of our 5 main striking options are actually ours. Andy Carroll, Marouane Chamakh and Wellington Paulista are all loaned in from other teams, with Carlton Cole and Modibo Maiga being the only true West Ham players. None of the players above have really contributed too much to the goals tally this season, and with the loans expiring in the summer, and assuming we have Premier League status, who are our realistic striker targets?
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- 1. Andy Carroll – It’s fair to say that the big man has been disappointing in front of goal, but this could be down to other contributing factors. Signing Matthew Jarvis, and having Carroll in the team seemed to be a good pairing, with Jarvis crossing the ball more times than anyone in the English Premier League last season. But injuries have dogged Carroll all season. His hold up play is by the best at the club, and if we can get him scoring, then signing him on a permanent basis could be a shrewd bit of business, even if it costs us £17m. And at 23 years of age, is a signing for the future – a young, English centre forward.
- 2. Rickie Lambert – Southampton’s top scorer has had another good season, following on from his magnificent year in the Championship last year. Lambert has been linked with us a few times this season, and no doubt he has good ability, and a knack of scoring. He also suits the Allardyce style of striker – big man, good hold up play, and someone we can get the ball into early. The thing that puts me off is at the age of 31 years old, he’s hardly got his best years ahead of him, and if he was any good, why weren’t he picked up in his younger years instead of plying his trade at the lower levels?
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- 3. Franco Di Santo – Yes, yes, another Wigan Athletic player, and after the signing of Mohamed Diame in the summer, and the potential arrival of Maynor Figueroa, surely we couldn’t pick off another of their star players? Di Santo is a player I like. He has got qualities of a big man, in being able to hold the ball up, but he possesses a lot of skill as well, meaning we can mix the play up to suit the opposition we are playing. Di Santo is quickly building a good reputation as a Premier League striker, and has scored some super goals for Wigan. He learnt a lot as a youngster at Chelsea, and is a player who could be available for a small fee if Wigan get relegated.
- 4. Adam Le Fondre – I am amazed that Le Fondre is not a starter at Reading, Brian McDermott preferring Pavel Pogrebnyak. But every time Le Fondre plays, he gets himself into good goalscoring positions, and boy can he finish. He has got a reputation at the moment as being a super sub, but I think given the chance, he could be the goalscorer we have been missing; he just needs a chance in a first team to prove it.
- 5. Jordan Rhodes – Rhodes has progressed well in his football career. Starting at Ipswich Town, he never got a look in, but wasn’t scared to drop a division, and made his name at HuddersfieldTown. He banged in goals every week for two seasons, and made a sensible move in the summer to Blackburn Rovers. He has continued to score goals, in a team that is bigger than Huddersfield, and have had their own off field problems. I think the time is right for Rhodes to finally make the step up into the Premier League. He scores all manner of goals, and that reminds of someone like Alan Shearer. Given the opportunity, Jordan Rhodes could be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Whoever we sign, I have faith that the board will splash out on a decent striker. We need to find a striker who is going to score 15+ goals a season.
Tell me who you think we should be targeting and whether you agree or disagree with the options I have put forward.
COME ON YOU IRONS!!
By Chelmo Hammer
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£17million? I would prefer that kind of money was split into thirds and spent a little better on some young talent. (Not ex Bolton players!)
Di Santo, good shout. Not fatty Lambert. Whats Van Wolfswinkle up to these days?
Sorry to split this in 2. How about Luc Castignos, James Forrest, Junior Hoilett. Trouble is Sam doesn’t look willing to help young footballers grow with first team football.
I’m gonna go with Carroll as far as a striker is concerned. He has bags of potential and can only grow from here provided he stays fit. This particular type of striker has a tendency to bloom rather late (look at what age the likes of Drogba or Llorente hit top form) so i’m confident we will get our worth out of him over 4-5 seasons even at 17mil.
As for other incoming players, depending on how deep our pockets are and what we are left with if/when AC deal goes through i expect us to look at some of the free transfers available come summer. We need a right wing so Puncheon would be an obvious choice if he doesnt sign a new contract at Southampton and we need some pacey full-backs…if Spence is ready and good enough i’d go with him at RB and look at someone young like Marcus Alonso (which weve been linked with) at LB who also is not signing an extension so would be free though i admit i know very little about the lad.
With those 3 slots covered (which have proven to be weaknesses this season imho) we will be in decent shape and anything extra would be a bonus.
not sure but might keep carroll but only no more than 10mill lambert maybe , but our problem is sam he only playes one striker either he changes hes formation or hes out , we also need pace pace pace and as DM says bring in some young kids we probably have the best academy but we dont use these young players other clubs have the money and get em on the cheap , who r the losers we r
Ricardo Vaz Te is a striker too. Just because Big Sam is a complete idiot and plays him out of position means fans forget about Vaz Te’s true position. He scored 24 goals in 30 starts last season remember.
AC is not worth the money we would have to pay.
Lambert as you say is too old for us to bother. Southampton would want too much for him.
Di Santo would be good to get for cheap if Wigan go down.
The other two as much as they might be good they wouldn’t get a change under Big Sam as they are not big lumps.
If we can start playing two up front and start making defenders have something to think about instead of just marking one striker then we might start scoring goals !!!! I played cb for years and if we had just one to mark it was a doodle !!! One up front is the problem !!!!