David Moyes is being linked with a move for new name in the striker frame as West Ham struggle for goals and he’s dirt cheap.
West Ham finally ended a painful 18-month search for a new striker when Moyes signed Gianluca Scamacca for £35m in the summer.
Michail Antonio and Jarrod Bowen did superbly to take on the goalscoring burden during two years of rapid progress for the Hammers.
But their goals have dried up and it has not been an easy start to life in the Premier League for Scamacca.
The Italian looks every inch of his 6ft5 frame a classy forward. But supply has been a big issue with Moyes being criticised for setting the team up too defensively.
West Ham have scored just 11 goals in 13 Premier League games this season – the joint third worst in the entire division.
For context Fulham have scored double that with 22, Newcastle have scored 25 and even Leicester, who are below the Hammers in the table, have scored 21.
It is certainly not the statistic of a team destined to do anything special and it needs to be addressed quickly.
Many West Ham fans felt the club needed to sign two strikers in the summer given most top clubs operate with at least three forwards in their squads.
And it seems the Hammers may move to rectify that in January.
Because Moyes has been linked with a move for a new name in the striker frame as West Ham struggle for goals and he’s dirt cheap.
According to Croatian outlet Vecernji, West Ham sent Steve Potts on a scouting mission to take a look at NK Osijek striker Dion Drena Beljo back in May.
As per a report from Belgian outlet HLN, it was said that the “auction” for the player, who like Scamacca is 6ft 5in tall, would start from €6m (£5.1m), although it was claimed at the time that the Hammers would be “ready” to spend up to €10m (£8.6m).
But West Ham did not move for Drena Beljo in the summer and now it seems they will be able to pick up the 20-year-old in a cut-price £4.3m deal in January.
HLN says interest from West Ham’s Europa Conference League group stage opponents Anderlecht has unearthed the price Osijek are willing to accept.
The Croatian Under 21 international was the third top scorer in his country’s top flight last season with 15 goals (FotMob).
At that kind of price it is a very low risk move for West Ham. But the step up from the Croatian top flight to the Premier League is huge.
Any competition for places for the likes of Scamacca and Antonio can only be positive, though. And sometimes if you don’t buy a ticket you don’t win the raffle.
West Ham are already reeling at snubbing one of the hottest prospects in Europe last January. Moyes won’t want to risk making a similar mistake.
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