West Ham fans were often left exasperated by David Moyes’ reluctance to sign a striker but he’s changed his ways at Everton.
One position that most certainly needs strengthening at West Ham and Everton this summer is the forward line.
The Hammers have Danny Ings and potentially Michail Antonio both leaving their 99-year-old attack as their contracts expire.
Everton forward – and perennial West Ham target – Dominic Calvert-Lewin is also out of contract and looks set to depart.
It’s claimed David Moyes does not see Beto as a starting striker despite an improvement from him.
West Ham and Everton’s forward-thinking this summer
Injury-prone but impressive forward Niclas Fullkrug’s future at West Ham is unclear while on loan Evan Ferguson will be sent back to Brighton.
When West Ham sold Sebastien Haller for a £25m loss to Ajax, Moyes waited 18 long months before he finally replaced him.
Much to the frustration of West Ham fans who felt the team could have made the Champions League that season as they fell short by a solitary win.
But Gianluca Scamacca did not work out either.
Moyes turned down a host of golden striker opportunities at West Ham including – by his own admission – a younger Fullkrug, Viktor Gyokeres and Julian Alvarez to name but three.
The Everton boss said at the time he felt there was a dearth of strikers across world football and wouldn’t sign a player for the sake of it.
Instead Moyes announced he was going to start using Jarrod Bowen as a striker when Scamacca was sold.
That has had mixed results ever since.
Now there is no lack of irony at what the Hammers’ fantastic but stubborn former boss is up to.
Because Moyes is trolling West Ham by finally moving for a striker now he’s at Everton and it’s Graham Potter’s dream target.
Moyes trolls West Ham by finally moving for a striker at Everton
David Sullivan’s sons have been urging him to sign Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap.
In fact Dave and Jack Sullivan haven’t stopped raving about Delap to their dad.
Potter clearly agrees.
When pressed about interest in Delap during the January window, the Hammers admitted he is a player of interest but stated they knew they would have to wait until the summer.
West Ham have been hopeful of competing for Delap by virtue of being the biggest club of those interested where he would be a guaranteed starter week in, week out.
The Hammers hierarchy were tight-lipped about Delap last week when new information emerged about his £40m release clause.
The fee is not unreasonable for a top young striker in this day and age.
Especially considering West Ham admitted they had made a £57m offer for Jhon Duran before he joined Al-Nassr in January.
Now, though, Moyes has decided to throw caution to the wind and actually go out and sign a young forward and of course it is the same player West Ham want.
TEAMtalk claims their sources have told them Moyes is looking closely at Delap to lead the line at Everton’s impressive new stadium.
Moyes asks Everton to move for Hammers target Delap
Everton and Brighton are said to have joined the queue for Delap, throwing even more doubt over the future of West Ham loan flop Ferguson at the Amex.
The report claims Moyes has gathered updated information on the 22-year-old Delap in recent days and he has asked his Everton bosses to keep close tabs on his situation.
West Ham fans will be thinking ‘you couldn’t make it up’.
In previous seasons, the Hammers would have been confident of seeing off the Toffees for a player, what with the offer of London life and Everton’s financial issues.
The landscape has changed, though, and now it is West Ham facing serious PSR difficulties which could hand Everton a big advantage over Delap.
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