OPINION
The transfer window may have already shut here in the UK, but it is not too soon for clubs to be plotting their next moves in January.
That includes West Ham United, who need to solve their lack of depth up front, especially as striker Javier Hernandez did not enjoy the most prolific of seasons last time out.
On Saturday, Nice manager Patrick Vieira revealed – via the Twitter account of French sports outlet ‘Canal Football Club’ – that Mario Balotelli wants to depart the club.
Patrick Vieira s'exprime sur le futur de Mario #Balotelli après #OGCNSDR dans #JourDeFoot 👀 pic.twitter.com/fCvlOzfIjB
— CANAL+ Foot (@CanalplusFoot) August 11, 2018
This is something which the Hammers must act on in January – by rescuing him from his ordeal, he would definitely bring the best out of Hernandez.
The 6’2″ [Transfermarkt] frontman is notorious for his fierce temper – as he showed us at Manchester City – but the lack of depth in the West Ham strike force is rather worrying when you take a step back, and they need a player who can come and solve it.
Mexican international Hernandez has not been his prolific self during his time in East London so far, but the addition of Balotelli in January would put all of his fears to bed.
He did not make the starting line up to face Liverpool over the weekend, making a cameo appearance in the second half that did not really amount to anything.
With the Italian playing alongside him, that would all change in an instant – Hernandez needs to be starting matches regularly to be a success at the club.
If he was playing regularly alongside Balotelli, the burden of being relied upon to score the goals would be shared, especially as the former Manchester City man netted 26 goals last season.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini only managed to bring in Lucas Perez from Arsenal in the forward department, but he is not of the quality to aid Hernandez at this moment in time.
The addition of a top-class striker would, and Balotelli will have Hernandez scoring goals for fun if he the Irons swooped for him in January.
