OPINION
West Ham could play a blinder with their reported plan to listen to offers for Jordan Hugill in January as they may find it easier to persuade a club to pay a worthwhile fee for him.
Football Insider reported on Monday that the Hammers were ready to sell the 27-year-old forward in the winter window despite his red-hot form for Queens Park Rangers this season.
The reliable football outlet stated that Hugill does not feature in Manuel Pellegrini’s plans and as a result, the Hammers have no intention of recalling him midway through his loan at QPR in January.
Football Insider also predicts that Hugill is certainly likely to have Championships clubs keen on his services given his form.
This isn’t a surprise as what Championship club wouldn’t be keen on adding an in-form goalscorer to their books?
The 27-year-old has scored six goals in nine league outings this season and has not only kept the defences and goalkeepers of his opponents busy by averaging 2.7 shots per game but has also used his physical presence well shown by the fact he has on average won 3.2 aerial duels per game. (Source: WhoScored)
In fact, Hugill has impressively averaged a goal every 142 minutes in the Championship this season, as per the BBC, and if his form keeps up, there’s every chance he could improve on that stat come January.
So it’s easy to imagine several Championship clubs being willing to battle over him in January, which will see the Hammers be able to get more money for him, if his form continues and if any club in the battle for promotion/play-offs ends up needing a new striker in January, they may be willing to go the extra mile for Hugill as they’ll know he’s a proven source of goals in that division.
Also when you consider the Hammers struggled to get him off their books permanently in the summer, then they have to capitalise on his form especially as he was previously only deemed good enough to feature three times for the club.
Lancashire Post reported in June that Hugill’s agent was trying to find his client a club to end his association with the Hammers, and when you consider he only ended up getting a loan move away, then it shows how little interest there was.
Also Football.London reported in July that the Hammers would be forced to take a significant loss on the £8million they paid to get Hugill from Preston North End in January 2018, but given his form now, that might not be the case come January.
After all, it’s not like the English forward is a bad age and not worth investing in considering he is still only 27-years-old.
So with that in mind, the Hammers could play a blinder by opening the bidding for Hugill in January rather than letting him see out his season-long loan at QPR as not only could he prove to be easier to sell based on his form, but they may actually get a decent fee for a player they previously thought they were going to have to take a noticeable loss on.
