Arsenal could make David Moyes look silly as Mikel Arteta eyes a striker West Ham had on a plate for just £17m.
They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for West Ham they had plenty of foresight to sign the perfect David Moyes striker and he didn’t take it.
Now Arsenal could be about to fill the Hammers boss with deep regret.
With Gianluca Scamacca sold after one season and Michail Antonio turning 34 soon, there was no doubt West Ham needed to sign a striker in the summer transfer window.
The same was said about Arsenal if they wanted to seriously challenge for the title and in the Champions League.
But neither Moyes or his former apprentice Mikel Arteta brought in a new, bona fide striker. And both are now said to be looking to sign one again.
The Hammers and Gunners have been linked with a host of targets.
But Arsenal are set to make Moyes look silly as Arteta eyes a striker West Ham had on a plate for just £17m.
That man is Viktor Gyokeres.
The Sweden striker had been widely expected to join West Ham in the summer as the heir to Antonio. Especially after Coventry failed to get promoted in the play-off final.
Gyokeres even sent a come and get me plea amid very real interest from West Ham.
In the end he moved to Sporting for just £17m – the same amount West Ham paid for Maxwel Cornet the summer before.
But according to the likes of FourFourTwo, he could now join Arsenal after just six months in Portugal with Arteta reportedly willing to sell players to meet Gyokeres’ £85m release clause.
Reports state Arsenal would be confident of getting the Swede for less than that pricey release clause.
Gyokeres has been an instant hit at Sporting, scoring 11 goals and laying on five assists in just 15 games so far.
It will be galling for West Ham fans if the Gunners sign a player Moyes had on a silver platter.
The West Ham boss spent a lot of time – perhaps too much – doing his homework on the all-action forward with The Sun claiming the Scot had personally attended several Coventry games last season to run the rule over Gyokeres ahead of a summer move.
And it was claimed by various journalists quoting people inside the club that Gyokeres was one of West Ham’s top targets.
It was easy to see why. The powerful, skilful and hard-working 25-year-old scored 22 goals and provided 12 assists in 50 games for Coventry last season.
Now Arsenal could make Moyes regret his indecision over the forward. Just like Man City did with Julian Alvarez – who the Scot admitted he snubbed for just £14m.
The only positive for West Ham is that in order to raise funds due to FFP, Arsenal are said to be willing to sell longstanding target Eddie Nektiah in January.
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