West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has hinted that he won’t buy another striker this summer after the club record purchase of Sebastien Haller.
The 25-year-old arrived from Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt earlier this week, offsetting the losses of attackers Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll and Lucas Perez this summer.
Despite that, Pellegrini appears to feel that the Hammers’ frontline is in a pretty strong position: “Until the last hour of the transfer market, we can make changes but I think in this moment with those three players [Javier Hernandez, Haller, Michail Antonio] we have good options,” he said at his post match press conference on Saturday, as per Football London.
OPINION
This is perhaps a surprise for some people considering the losses West Ham have sustained in the attacking area of the pitch this summer. Carroll and Perez weren’t regular starters for Pellegrini’s team last season, but they provided some solid depth behind Hernandez and Arnautovic. Now, the latter has departed as well, although he has been more than adequately replaced by club record signing Haller. Still, that leaves just Hernandez and Haller as senior frontmen at the club. Antonio, although namechecked by Pellegrini as one of his three options in attack, is a winger by trade. The Englishman can play up front, has done so in the past and has occupied the position throughout this pre season. However, he is not an orthodox forward who can be relied upon to hold down the position long term. With that said, it’s a bit of a surprise that Pellegrini isn’t preparing to head into the market for another attacker, although he has definitely left the door open, here.
