Are the strikers the problem at Premier League outfit West Ham United? Or have Niclas Fullkrug, Danny Ings, Gianluca Scamacca, Sebastien Haller and more struggled to live up to expectations due to factors outside their control?
Despite prolific stints with the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Southampton, Atalanta and Ajax, the talented quartet netted only 20 top-flight goals between them in the colours of West Ham United.
And, as Niclas Fullkrug embarked upon injury-hit debut season on the back of his £27 million arrival from the Bundesliga, the temptation was to label the late-blooming Germany international another victim of a brutal ‘striker curse’ which appears to eat away at every number nine who dares pull on that claret and blue shirt.
But, as former Hammer Frank McAvennie argues, to put those eternal struggles down to something eerily supernatural ignores a wider issue.
Frank McAvennie defends Niclas Fullkrug and Danny Ings after West Ham United struggles
Speaking to talkSPORT, Haller felt that his struggles, following a £40 million transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt, were a combination of an ill-fitting ‘set-up’ and West Ham’s failure to find a suitable forward partner.
Scamacca was a man reborn after returning to Italy with Atalanta, meanwhile. The Italy international started only 11 Premier League games under David Moyes and, understandably, a lack of faith shown in him by the manager took it’s toll.
McAvennie is keen to point out that Fullkrug and particularly Danny Ings are also far more talented than they appeared to be at the London Stadium.
For all the concerns over a lack of pace, Fullkrug does have three league goals in just six starts.
As for Ings, an old-school penalty-box poacher became isolated in an ill-fitting lone-striker role before falling even further down the pecking order under Julen Loptegui and Graham Potter.
The England international once hit 22 Premier League goals in one season as part of a front two alongside Che Adams at Southampton. In hindsight, West Ham may have to take their share of the blame, then. Failing to put a system in place capable of coaxing the best out of a man who averaged only 0.8 shots per game in a claret and blue shirt.
In contrast, Ings averaged 2.2 shots per game during his three seasons at St Mary’s.
“The boy from Germany [Fullkrug], he never played a game!” McAvennie, who had two spells at Upton Park between 1985 and 1992, says with some exaggeration. “When you see him playing, he’s actually quite good!
“The one for me is Danny Ings.
“Danny Ings is a wonderful striker but he can’t do it because he’s not getting chances. [West Ham] don’t create as many chances as they used to, that’s for sure.”
Ings linked with Wrexham as Fullkrug vows to fight for West Ham future
While Niclas Fullkrug wants to right the wrongs at West Ham and prove he is capable of becoming their first successful out-and-out striker signing since Marko Arnautovic nearly a decade ago, Danny Ings will officially leave the London Stadium when his contract expires on July 1st.
According to reports, both Ings and Aaron Cresswell could join Wrexham. The latest high-profile acquisitions at the deep-pocketed Championship newcomers.
“I didn’t join a club at 32 to use it as a springboard,” Fullkrug told Kicker in the spring. “I’ve never had any intention of leaving West Ham, and that’s not even on my mind right now because I’m really enjoying this job at the moment.
“I find a challenge like this appealing. Moving to a club that isn’t yet where you want to be.”
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