Often, when a centre-forward arrives in the Premier League from a weaker competition, the question is whether he can replicate those impressive tallies at a club such as West Ham United.
Yuri Alberto has scored more goals than any other Brazilian since the beginning of 2024, as well as claiming his domestic league’s Golden Boot award with Corinthians.
But can Yuri Alberto achieve the step up required to last the pace in English football, with West Ham United again interested in a long-standing transfer target?
The almost Alexander Isak-esque Emanuel Emegha has been a Ligue 1 revelation with Strasbourg. Is he a bit of a one-season wonder, or was the 2024/25 campaign the one where Emegha started on his journey towards continental domination?
When the topic turns to Brian Brobbey over in the Netherlands, however, the feeling is that the misfiring Ajax frontman has missed the boat as far as a potential £30 million transfer to West Ham is concerned.
After all, if Brobbey is capable of only four goals in 30 Eredivisie appearances against the likes of NAC Breda, RKC Waalwijk and Almere City, is he really the solution to West Ham’s seemingly never-ending problems at centre-forward?
West Ham United chance looks to have passed Brian Brobbey by
West Ham’s Brian Brobbey bid was described as ‘ridiculous’ by the Dutch media back in January. ‘Ridiculous’ because of the make-up of the offer; The Hammers offering an initial loan deal with a £30 million purchase clause.
Four months later, West Ham’s interest now feels ‘ridiculous’ for rather different reasons.
Brobbey was already struggling to replicate the form of his impressive breakout season in the first half of the campaign.
And, despite a brief purple patch in February which may have had the Hammers faithful cursing their failure to get a deal done, Brobbey would end a miserable season with a nine-game barren run as Ajax somehow contrived to let the Eredivisie title slip through their grasp.
“Are there many clubs that say; ‘Brobbey, four goals, that’s exactly what we need?,” a bemused Rene Van der Gijp tells Vandaag Inside. “I really don’t believe that.”
Van der Gijp, a former Netherlands international and two-time Eredivisie champion with PSV Eindhoven, certainly finds it hard to envisage West Ham picking up the phone again in an attempt to convince Ajax to cash in.
“Do you believe that that West Ham United and those clubs want [Brian Brobbey now]?,” Van der Gijp adds before providing a rather brutal answer to his own question.
“No, of course not.”
Ajax ‘should have’ sold Brobbey when the Hammers came calling
The always-outspoken Johan Derksen is convinced Ajax already regret turning down West Ham’s proposal.
“Brobbey is done,” the veteran pundit says bluntly. “Brobey is of no use to you. A striker who doesn’t score is of no use to you.
“Brobbey failed in Germany [with RB Leipzig], came back to Ajax and achieved nothing.
“They could have sold him to a club in England [West Ham]. They should have done that straight away, because you don’t get anything for him anymore.”
In all competitions, Brobbey found the net only seven times in 44 games this season. In almost the exactly same number of matches last season, he scored at a far more reliable rate, finishing 2024/25 with 22 goals.
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