Has West Ham gaffer Big Sam finally got it right?

This transfer window, West Ham have made three striker signings. Mauro Zarate from Velez Sarsfield, Enner Valencia from Pachuca, and Diafra Sakho. All three have only made one appearance each at the time of writing. Zarate ran the show against Crystal Palace and got a debut goal. Sakho and Valencia only got around 10 minutes each, and both looked reasonably bright.

So has Big Sam finally made a group of successful forward signings for West Ham?

In his first transfer window with West Ham, we were of course in the Championship and he made the signings of Sam Baldock from MK Dons, and Brian Montenegro from Deportivo Maldonado on loan. Baldock made 23 appearances in the following season and scored just 5 goals. Montenegro was reportedly signed by David Sullivan and he never made a senior appearance for the Hammers.

2 signings – 23 appearances – 5 goals

Ricardo Vaz Te and Nicky Maynard were scoring well in the Championship, and so were snapped up by West Ham in the January transfer window. To date, Vaz Te has made 49 appearances for West Ham and he has scored 15 goals. It mustn’t be forgotten that he regularly plays out wide, but he often shoots more than most to. As for Maynard, he only made 14 appearances and only scored a measly two goals.

2 signings – 63 appearances – 17 goals

Promotion to the Premier League. Andy Carroll and Modibo Maiga were signed. Andy was only a loan signing at this point and he made 24 appearances and scored just seven goals. Modibo made 31 appearances and scored a fantastic three goals!

2 signings – 55 appearances – 10 goals

January of 2013 triggered a few more striker signings, of which no goals were scored. Sean Maguire was signed as a future prospect and so hasn’t played a game for the first team to date. Wellington Paulista was another David Sullivan signing and he didn’t make an appearance either. Marouane Chamakh was signed from Arsenal on loan and he made three appearances without scoring and has since scored twice against the Hammers for Crystal Palace.

3 signings – 3 appearances – 0 goals

Carroll was signed on a permanent deal in the summer of 2013, along with the free signing of Mladen Petric and the re-signing of Carlton Cole after being released after a few months. Andy Carroll is still yet to stay fit for a long period of time and subsequently he has made 15 appearances and has scored twice. As for Petric, he made just three appearances and didn’t score a goal. Carlton’s return has treated us to a further seven goals in 26 appearances.

3 signings – 44 appearances – 9 goals

Two more striker signings were made in January of 2014. Marco Borriello made two appearances and surprisingly didn’t score in that short period of time. Jaanai Gordon was another signing for the future and he is yet to make a senior appearance for West Ham.

2 signings – 2 appearances – 0 goals

So overall, West Ham’s forward signings under Big Sam have not excelled. He has made a total of 14 signings (including loan and permanent deal for Carroll), these signings have scored a total of 41 goals in a combined total of 190 appearances.

Let’s hope for a more successful future from West Ham’s summer striker signings.