It is quite apt that Evan Ferguson will make his West Ham debut the day after Valentine’s as Brentford come to the London Stadium.
West Ham fans have have been desperate to find a striker they can fall head over heels in love with for years.
For the best part of a decade, Michail Antonio has always been West Ham’s fallback option when things haven’t worked out with more attractive, exotic attempts at moving on to something better.
Loyal, steady Antonio is the one West Ham go back to with their tails between their legs after lavishing their money and hopes on others.
Antonio isn’t available to be the Hammers’ rebound right now, though.
West Ham’s ill-judged hook-up with a big mature German has been a disaster and Danny Ings has never set pulses racing in east London.
The Hammers have a reputation for getting around.
Fifty-four relationships with forwards from all corners of the globe in the last 15 years tells you that.
Now West Ham have finally gone for the kind of profile of striker fans have yearned for.
Evan Ferguson would have been well out of West Ham’s reach just over a year ago.
Potter on whether West Ham fans can risk falling in love with Ferguson
Valued at over £100m, some of the biggest clubs in Europe were said to be monitoring the 20-year-old Irishman’s progress.
It says everything about how little of that there has been that Ferguson now finds himself on loan at 16th placed West Ham.
The fact it is a “dry loan” has been the subject of much debate among Hammers fans.
Some feel it shows the club has a lack of ambition and possibly the required funds to commit to a permanent deal.
Others think it’s sensible given Ferguson’s recent injury issues. Even if that does expose West Ham to rival clubs signing him ahead of them if the loan goes well.
There have been conflicting claims about whether West Ham can sign Ferguson permanently in the summer if him and the club do hit it off.
Conflicting claims over Ferguson’s future
Continuing the Valentine’s theme, it’s clear the worst case scenario is that West Ham finally find “the one” in Ferguson and enjoy a brilliant three months together only for him to go back to his ex or off with someone more attractive in the summer.
This time there will be no guarantees Antonio will be able to take the responsibility and strain of continuing in his relationship with West Ham. Especially as he turns 35 next month.
With Ings out of contract and free to find someone new and Fullkrug looking to move back home, that leaves West Ham needing at least two – if not three – striker signings in the summer.
West Ham will likely start things off slow with Ferguson, bringing him into the action against Brentford from the bench.
On paper he has everything West Ham need and have wanted for years.
Potter on whether West Ham can sign Ferguson permanently
But do desperate Hammers supporters dare get too attached?
Now Graham Potter has shared whether West Ham fans can risk falling in love with Ferguson.
The answer in truth was a bit of a cop out. But sensibly so in the usual considered way Potter deals with most things.
In his words, instead of ‘pointlessly worrying’ about whether the Hammers can or will buy Ferguson outright, Potter is urging fans to just enjoy the relationship while it lasts – even if it does turn out to be a short fling.
“I don’t think we should think like that (whether West Ham will be signing Ferguson permanently),” Potter told The Guardian.
“We should think about how we can help Evan enjoy his football, bring the quality that we know he has.
“Let’s just focus on that. Let’s focus on having the best 14 matches we can…
“The quality is still there. It’s our job to get him on the pitch, help him enjoy his football… Hopefully we can help him. He needs to be on the pitch regularly. Then we’ll see the best of Evan.”
At least West Ham fans can go into this latest striker relationship with their eyes wide open.
Potter is playing Cupid by bringing West Ham fans the kind of striker they’ve wanted for so long.
Let’s just hope they’re not left broken-hearted come the summer window.
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