OPINION
West Ham United are in desperate need of short-term midfield reinforcements after the season-ending injury to winger Andriy Yarmolenko and they must look to Brighton’s Alirez Jahanbakhsh as a replacement.
Even though the Seagulls star has ten appearances in the Premier League, the majority of them have come from the bench, with Chris Hughton preferring Solly March over the Iranian.
The Hammers are no doubt feeling the loss of Yarmolenko hugely at the moment, especially after the impact he made once he was started in the game against Everton a few months ago.
They do not have any like-for-like cover for him at the moment, and Felipe Anderson has being bearing most of the burden when it comes to creativity.
However, Jahanbakhsh may just be the short-team solution to Manuel Pellegrini’s midfield woes.
It is rather surprising that Hughton has not started a player who was golden boot winner in the Eredivisie in the 2017/18 season with 21 goals more often, but here we are.
A loan move for the playmaker is just what West Ham need until the end of the season, as that would cover Yarmolenko’s absence – and it would also give the Brighton the starts that he is undoubtedly after since his arrival in England.
After tearing up the Dutch league with 21 goals, Jahanbakhsh would walk straight into Pellegrini’s team due to his fantastic record.
The Irons would no doubt be elated by the fact that they would not have to pay a huge transfer fee for someone with such pedigree, and they would be doing Brighton a favour by giving the talent the experience he needs in the Premier League.
Claret and Hugh have reported that the West Ham board recognise the fact that the club are in need of midfield reinforcements, and the London Stadium would roar if they and Pellegrini managed to sign such a quality player on loan.
