West Ham‘s desperate need to sign a striker this month is no secret.
Even before Niclas Fullkrug’s hamstring injury, which is expected to keep him sidelined for “a number of weeks,” it was generally accepted that the Hammers would be wise to invest in another goalscorer during the winter transfer window.
The Germany international being sidelined once again has now made it a necessity that Graham Potter‘s first signing as West Ham boss is a striker.
There has been no shortage of strikers linked with a switch to east London as a result, with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Evan Ferguson, Taiwo Awoniyi and Rodrigo Muniz all touted as possible targets.
The club’s decades-long struggle to sign a long-term goalscorer has often been the result of ill-planning and the occasional bit of bad luck, so the desperate nature of this latest search for a frontman has many fans worried the club will rush into signing yet another dud.
The most recent example was the capture of Danny Ings from Aston Villa for £15m in January 2023. West Ham needed a striker to help the misfiring, and often injured, Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio.
David Moyes, famously reluctant to do any business in January, sanctioned the deal but it was obvious very quickly that the Englishman wasn’t the right man to lead the line. He has since scored only five goals in 65 appearances.
But there are signs the club is taking a more deliberate approach in its most recent search for a striker.
That’s according to Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg, who revealed on Thursday that West Ham had been offered the chance to sign Hoffenheim striker Mergim Berisha.
The 26-year-old has scored just one goal in 24 appearances for the relegation-threatened Bundesliga outfit and is being touted around by his agent in the hope of securing a move away from the club he joined from Augsberg last August.
But Plettenberg revealed West Ham passed up the chance to sign the German and are continuing to explore a specific list of targets.
It might sound relatively obvious that the club would not be interested in signing a striker who has struggled to impress in a side battling towards the bottom of the German first tier, but it’s the type of signing West Ham would probably have made a few years ago, perhaps even this time last year.
Instead, it is already obvious that Graham Potter and the club have a specific profile of a striker they’re looking to sign and will not be tempted to let their desperation distract them from what they truly need.
It may seem like a small development in this striker search, but it’s a significant one and a sign things might just be changing behind the scenes when it comes to recruiting strikers.
