It is common knowledge that West Ham will always be in the market for a striker in the transfer window and it is safe to say this year is no exception.
But while we usually look for fairly unknown strikers with potential to do well, this year we are going for the big name. We have already been linked with numerous strikers, such as Mario Gomez, Mario Mandzuckic, Carlos Bacca, Wissam Ben Yedder, Michy Batshuayi and Alexandre Lacazette.
Despite these links though, I firmly believe, probably to the disappointment of fellow supporters, that Christian Benteke is the man for us. If we look at the ones we have been linked with so far
Batshuayi – Went to Chelsea
Lacazette – Little to no interest in joining
Mandzuckic and Gomez – 30 and 31-years-ikd respectively, as an aspiring club we should not be linked with ageing strikers, we need a long term option.
Bacca – Seems to be putting off our contract to see if anyone will offer him more, the last thing we need is to spend £30million on a mercenary.
Ben Yedder – A realistic option who did well in Ligue 1 but, definitely not the marquee signing Hammers fans expect.
And then we have Benteke.
Firstly, he is 25-years-old and proven in the Premier League.
West Ham have always had a tendency to buy players in exotic leagues because they are cheaper. Lanzini might be an exception to this, but you only have to look at Enner Valencia and Mauro Zarate to realise this is a poor option.
West Ham are very rarely gifted with proven Premier League goalscorers and Benteke could be the one for us. He consistently smashes the 10 goal mark and sometimes gets between 15-20; and although he hit rock bottom last season, he still reached double figures in all competitions.
That’s a privilege our very own Andy Carroll only achieved in the 10/11 season with Newcastle, when he got 11.
Speaking of Carroll, many West Ham fans would agree that he had a decent 15/16 season with the support of the fans and the squad, as well as the faith of the manager. But he only scored nine goals!
Benteke managed to score 10 last season in less games and without the support of the fans, team and manager. Just imagine what he would have achieved with more support, better service from team mates and first team starts.
The best thing is he plays like Andy Carroll and we already play to his strengths, so there is no doubt we can play to Benteke’s too. He has reportedly been shown the door at Liverpool, which means, as long as they make a little profit, they wont think twice about letting him go.
As for the wages we already know, thanks to Mr Sullivan, that we can afford them but you would like to think he would take a wage cut to play first team football week in, week out.
And that is why I feel Christian Benteke is the man for us!
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