OPINION
One of the most remarkable statistics surrounding West Ham United’s rollercoaster of a start to the new Premier League season is that they are yet to have a goal scored by a substitute this season.
That’s a bizarre fact but one that underlines that manager Manuel Pellegrini needs more attacking thrust from the bench. It’s a problem, though, that could be solved with a January move for one of Sam Vokes or Glenn Murray.
Not the most glamorous names, you’re thinking. Well, you’d be correct, but both have proven themselves to be effective Premier League players for teams that are objectively worse than West Ham.
And both men have contracts that expire this summer, making a move for either man in the New Year an affordable solution to Pellegrini’s lack of firepower off the bench.
Vokes’s reported £17,000-per-week deal [Source: Spotrac] with Burnley has mere months to run, while the same goes for Murray’s reported £30,000-per-week contract with Brighton & Hove Albion [Source: Spotrac].
Neither man would cost the earth, but both are capable of providing goals from the bench and a plausible alternative to Pellegrini’s tried and tested front three of Andriy Yarmolenko, Marko Arnautovic and Felipe Anderson.
Murray in particular would be an excellent signing. Although he is now 35 years of age, he has shown himself to be a capable Premier League centre forward, almost single-handedly providing Brighton with their top flight firepower. He would be an extremely low cost solution to West Ham’s current problems.
Last season he netted 14 goals in all competitions for the newly promoted Seagulls, while he’s grabbed another five goals in eight games this term.
Those are impressive numbers that rival anything any of the Hammers’ frontmen have produced over that period. He is an excellent target man, capable of holding the ball up and bringing his team mates into play.
Vokes’s strengths are similar, although he’s not as prolific as Murray. The Wales international is terrific in the air and consistently changes games off the bench for Sean Dyche’s side.
He’s scored 16 goals over the past two seasons, not great but not terrible, while he’s bagged three more this term in limited game time.
Neither man is a household name who would really get the Hammers’ fans pulses racing, but they are both underrated Premier League operators who would solve a major problem plaguing the club at the moment.
