OPINION
BBC Sport published a report on Monday stating that Premier League sides West Ham United and Newcastle United are both in for Genk striker Mbwana Samatta, who scored against Liverpool in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Despite Samatta having a terrific goalscoring record of 74 goals and 19 assists in 181 games for his club [Source: Transfermarkt] and, as per the BBC report, a release clause of just £10million, the West Ham supporters have been left baffled by this news. That’s because, as many of them state, Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini is seemingly inexorably wedded to playing one striker up front, rarely going for two. Indeed, he’s been reluctant to throw summer signing Albian Ajeti on alongside Sebastien Haller in the majority of league games this season. So the fans don’t see this move as being particularly likely, mostly because of the manager. Perhaps, though, given that the BBC are a reliable source, this planned swoop suggests that Pellegrini might be starting to move away from his one-up strategy. We’ll have to wait until January to discover the truth of that line of thinking, though.
Forever West Ham has rounded up some of the best tweets below.
