West Ham step up striker hunt, five possibilities?
West Ham appear to have stepped up their hunt for another striker, with several reports linking us with forwards doing the rounds today.
Enner Valencia’s injury last month means we’re desperately light up top, and the last two games have highlighted the fact that Diafra Sakho needs an able striker partner alongside him.
Ever since the window opened we’ve been linked with the same old names, but nothing appeared to be moving in the right direction. Until now, that is.
Several reports today had us linked with strikers all over the place. From England to Italy to Turkey.
The search for a goal scorer is well and truly on and, with just two weeks until the transfer window closes, the club are going to have to move fast if we’re going to be successful in bringing in at least one of them.
So here are today’s striker transfer news…
CLICK HERE TO REVEAL
[interaction id=“none”]
Charlie Austin
It seems like we’ve been linked with the QPR striker since the beginning of time, but nothing has every really developed on from the whole ‘West Ham are interested, QPR want £15m, no official bids made’ headlines.
But today the Evening Standard claims Austin was “ready” to move to the Hammers because he wants to stay in London, and won’t consider moving anywhere else. Good news.
And then if that wasn’t encouraging enough, Les Ferdinand confirmed QPR have received “two firm offers” from clubs for Austin. There’s no official word that confirms one of those clubs is actually us, but you’d hope the board have finally made their move.
Tottenham are also reportedly interested in Austin, which would be a problem if they really are, but as things stand you’d think we’re in the driving seat for his signature no?
[interaction id=“none”]
Benik Afobe
Regardless of what league you’re playing in, if you bang in 32 goals in one season you’re going to be linked with a move to another club.
So I suppose it’s no real surprise that today’s reports have us linked with a move for Wolves’ Benik Afobe, who started last season by scoring a shed load of goals for MK Dons in League One and ended it by scoring a shed load of goals for Wolves in the Championship.
A potential fee is yet to be reported, by Slaven is apparently keeping an eye on the former Arsenal youngster. Certainly an interesting one.
[interaction id=“none”]
Andre Gray
Gray netted 18 goals for Brentford last season, and was crucial in their surprising route in to the Championship play-offs. The Bees don’t want to lose him, obviously, but you’d imagine it would be hard to stand in the way of him if a Premier League club was to come calling.
After all, he was playing for Hinckley Town only three years ago…
[interaction id=“none”]
Burak Yilmaz
The Turkish striker is a goal machine, and Slaven Bilic has admitted that he’s an admirer of him after seeing first hand what he’s capable of while managing Besiktas.
However, no one really knows what’s going on with this one. Some reports claim we’re not signing him, others reckon we’re on the verge of bringing him to the Boleyn Ground for £6.4m.
He’s 30-years-old and, personally, I think we should be looking to pay more for someone who we can rely on for the next three or four seasons, rather than a player we’re only going to get one or two seasons out of.
It will be interesting to see where this one goes, that’s for sure.
[interaction id=“none”]
Ezequiel Lavezzi
The Express were reporting earlier that PSG have offered the Argentina international to a bunch of Premier League clubs as they want to balance the books by getting rid of him – presumably because they’ve just signed Angel Di Maria.
Apparently those Premier League clubs include Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham. If it does come down to us three then we’ll no doubt miss out on him, but he’s certainly a player who would bring a lot to the side – that’s a big name signing, you know, like the one David Sullivan kept banking on about earlier in the summer?
What about Javier Hernandez, I hear you cry. He’s still at Manchester United and, unless they sign Pedro, that’s exactly where he’ll be staying.
[interaction id=“none”]