Recency bias often dictates opinion in football so, when Haji Wright fired Frank Lampard one step closer to the Premier League on Monday night, the West Ham United faithful would be forgiven for talking up a summer swoop for the Coventry City striker.
Whether such a swoop could be considered at all realistic is, of course, another matter entirely.
According to reports, Coventry demanded a staggering £120 million when West Ham United enquired about the America international on the other side of Christmas.
Haji hat-trick puts Lampard’s Coventry top! 🇺🇸 🎩
How much would YOU pay to bring him to West Ham?
Unsurprisingly, per Claret and Hugh, such an obscene figure meant that negotiations never even began. If this was Coventry’s less-than-subtle way of telling the Hammers to go away and leave them to their promotion charge, well, it was pretty effective.
Talking of that promotion charge, Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues leapfrogged Middlesbrough into top spot on Monday evening. The Los Angeles-born Wright scored a hat-trick in a crushing 3-1 win. Thus, netting more in one night than he had managed across the previous 18 Championship outings combined.
And therein lies the pitfall. Consistency is lacking for a striker who tends to score in bunches. After two goals in 18 games, could he really be relied upon to find the target more reliably in the division above?
West Ham United fans not convinced by Coventry City striker Haji Wright
Even if Coventry were to fall short of promotion and if West Ham were to survive, the Midlanders would likely demand somewhere in the region of £30 – £40 million.
Six years after Jarrod Bowen joined from Hull for £20 million – considering Wright’s fairly-impressive goalscoring record and football’s ever-growing transfer fees – £30 million seems like a realistic demand. Well, more realistic than that alleged £120 million one, anyway.
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When we at Hammers News asked our readers whether they would take Wright at the London Stadium, should the circumstances fit, that heroic treble in a top-of-the-table clash was not enough to offset the fans’ reservations.
Particularly after £40 million-plus was spent in January on Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe.
“Is he the American striker? If so, no thanks,” one reader said on our Facebook page. “Don’t really rate him and – for once ironically – we have better options.”
“Nah. We have Taty and Pablo now,” another says, pointing out that they would rather keep a certain 33-year-old poacher than spend heavily on a striker who would not be guaranteed a starting spot. “[Callum] Wilson deserves another contract.”
“Surely we have a youth player as good if not better?”
Hammers have decisions to make on Callum Wilson and Josh Ajala
Fortunately, Fabrizio Romano was very wrong…
What should the next steps for Josh Ajala be at West Ham?
Well, the answer to that could potentially be Josh Ajala.
Teenager Ajala fired West Ham into the National League Cup final with a late brace against Tamworth on Tuesday night. A prolific goalscorer at U18 and now Under-21 level, the concern is that French and German clubs have held talks with Ajala as his contract runs down.
If Ezra Mayers’ emergence eases the need for a new left-sided centre-back, if Mohamadou Kante can step up to fill the void created by the exits of Guido Rodriguez and Andy Irving, maybe Ajala should be taken into consideration before West Ham consider buying another number nine.
“No, [Wright] isn’t good enough,” another supporter argues.
“Definitely not.”
“Not consistent enough. We need a striker like the young Irish lad at AZ Alkmaar, Troy Parrott.”
In a claim that will excite that final supporter, Ben Jacobs reported in November that West Ham have ‘discussed’ the idea of signing Parrott; the one-time Tottenham Hotspur prospect who fired the Republic of Ireland into the World Cup play-offs with an iconic hat-trick of his own.
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