The sorry state of West Ham’s history with strikers revealed
Happy New Year Hammers fans, and you know what that means – the January transfer window is now open.
There has been quite a bit of talk from West Ham ITKs over the past week about the club signing a proven striker. Jermain Defoe, Scott Hogan and Moussa Dembele steal the headlines with reported bids totalling £31m.
But I ask you this – is spending the money really the answer to our problems? West Ham have never really purchased an out-and-out striker who can regularly score 15+ goals a season, or stay fit, nor have they been able to keep a striker long enough to later sell him when he gets in form and a bigger club table an offer we cannot refuse.
The statistics of our previous transfer activity since 2001 proves how bad we really are in getting a clinical striker with longevity.
The below table will make your eyes hurt. It’s a list of strikers signed on permanent deals from this season all the way back to 2001, showing the price we paid and their goal return in all competitions…
| Player | Fee | Goals (all comps) |
|---|---|---|
| Antonio Martinez | £2.4m | 0 |
| Andre Ayew | £20.5m | 1 |
| Ashley Fletcher | Free | 1 |
| Nikica Jelavic | £3m | 2 |
| Mauro Zarate | Undisclosed | 5 |
| Enner Valencia | £12m | 10 |
| Diafra Sakho | £4.5m | 20 |
| Andy Carroll | £15.5m | 25 |
| Jaanai Gordon | £3.5m | 0 |
| Modibo Maiga | £5m | 7 |
| Sean Maguire | Undisclosed | 0 |
| Freddie Piquionne | £1.5m | 11 |
| Demba Ba | £6m | 7 |
| Frank Nouble | £1m | 1 |
| Benni McCarthy | £2.5m | 0 |
| Mido | Free | 0 |
| Illan | Free | 4 |
| Diego Tristan | Free | 3 |
| Savio Nsereko | £9m | 0 |
| Craig Bellamy | £7.5m | 9 |
| Carlton Cole | £3m | 68 |
| Carlos Tevez | Undisclosed | 7 |
| Dean Ashton | £7.25m | 19 |
| Yaniv Katan | £100k | 0 |
| Teddy Sheringham | Free | 30 |
| Sergei Rebrov | Free | 2 |
| David Connolly | £285k | 14 |
| Marlon Harewood | £500k | 56 |
| Bobby Zamora | Player Exchange | 40 |
| Brian Deane | Free | 7 |
| Les Ferdinand | Free | 2 |
| Titi Camara | £2.2m | 0 |
| Svetoslav Todorov | £500k | 2 |
Told you it would hurt your eyes!
Here are the interesting facts from the past 16 years…
- 25 strikers have scored 353 goals & nine of those strikers have failed to hit the back of the net.
- £107m is the approximate amount of money that West Ham have spent on Transfers… this is without the player’s weekly wages!
- This works out that West Ham have spent around £303k per goal on strikers alone.
- West Ham ‘legend’ Carlos Tevez (7) has scored less goals for the club than Freddie Piquionne (11) and Enner Valencia (10).
- Carlton Cole is statistically West Ham’s top scorer in the past 16 seasons with 68 goals. He is followed by Marlon Harewood (56) Bobby Zamora (40).
- Carlton Cole has a goals-per-game ratio of 0.23 goals per game (one goal every 4.3 games).
- Strikers who signed on a free have scored 49 goals, with Teddy Sheringham scoring over half of them in just two seasons.
- Diafra Sakho is West Ham’s most prolific goal scorer since 2001, with 20 goals in 52 games – a conversion rate of 0.23 goals per game (one goal every 2.6 games).
- Interestingly, Sakho’s scoring return is £225k-per-goal… around £84k cheaper than the club’s calculated average over 16 seasons.
These stats are proof that West Ham have really lacked a quality striker since Jermain Defoe left us. Isn’t it ironic that after 16 seasons, 10 managers, nine club captains, two relegations, two promotions, one cup final and spending over a hundred million pounds to get (on average) a pathetic 18 goals-per-season since 2001 that, in January 2017, a 34-year-old Jermain Defoe has been touted as the answer to our problems?
We were thinking of replacing Jermain Defoe with… Jermain Defoe.
Go figure.
Come on you Irons!