OPINION
For West Ham United, this summer has seen them conduct a huge overhaul of their striking department. Gone are the likes of Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll and Lucas Perez.
On Monday, the club confirmed that veteran frontman Javier Hernandez has joined the list of the departed, making a European deadline day switch to La Liga outfit Sevilla.
The decision to sell Hernandez is a controversial one, because it leaves manager Manuel Pellegrini with just two senior attackers.
With that said, the pressure is now firmly on summer recruit Albian Ajeti, who as yet has only 90 minutes of football as a West Ham player under his belt.
Sebastien Haller has shouldered the burden of being the club’s record signing and first choice striker admirably so far, but if he were to go down injured, Ajeti would be required to make an instant adaptation to English football in his stead.
The Switzerland international’s career to date would suggest that he has the talent required to be a success at the London Stadium. Despite being just 22 years of age, at previous club Basel he had a phenomenal record of 43 goals and 21 assists in 96 games [Source: Transfermarkt].
That’s a tremendous tally, showing that he is a natural goalscorer. However, it’s one thing doing it for one of the best teams in Switzerland, quite another to manage it for West Ham in the Premier League.
The first sighting of Ajeti in a claret and blue shirt produced mixed results, to put it kindly. Against Newport County in the Carabao Cup last week, he looked slightly off the pace.
As per WhoScored.com, he had three shoots against the League Two side, none of them on target. Furthermore, Ajeti was caught offside once and had four unsuccessful touches. He did register two key passes, though.
So it was a bit of a rough start, but that’s to be expected. What counts now is that he improves moving forward and deals with the pressure of being Haller’s deputy. Otherwise, West Ham could find themselves in trouble.
