West Ham have held talks with seven strikers but David Moyes is struggling to close a deal claims journalist.
West Ham’s lack of striker options was an issue supporters expected would be addressed during the summer.
But the summer came and went without Moyes bringing in back-up for injury-prone Michail Antonio.
It has not done West Ham any harm thus far.
But the disruption an injury to Antonio could cause to West Ham’s season was brought sharply into focus when Angelo Ogbonna damaged his ACL against Liverpool, potentially ruling him out for the rest of the season.
West Ham are fighting on all fronts this season. The Hammers are flying high in third place in the Premier League with almost a third of the season gone.
They are on the brink of making the last 16 of the Europa League and one game away from the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
West Ham have held talks with seven strikers but David Moyes is struggling to close a deal claims journalist
Moyes’s boys will embark on a hectic schedule of 12 games in less than five weeks.
But writing in his Daily Mail column Ahead of the Game, journalist Matt Hughes has claimed Moyes has held talks with SEVEN strikers to no avail.
“David Moyes is struggling to sign the striker he believes he needs to boost West Ham’s Champions League qualification bid in the New Year — due to the fine form of Michail Antonio,” Hughes claims in his Daily Mail column.
“Forwards at other clubs are reluctant to move to the London Stadium as his understudy to sit on the bench.
“West Ham held talks with seven different strikers last summer without completing a transfer and have yet to sign a direct replacement for club-record signing Sebastien Haller, who was sold to Ajax for £20million last January.
“Antonio’s superb performances this season have ironically made West Ham’s recruitment plans more difficult as the 31-year-old has made himself undroppable and Moyes is reluctant to deviate from a successful game-plan of playing just one up front.”
It is similar to the situation bitter rivals Tottenham have struggled with ever since Harry Kane’s emergence.
But this is where the arrival of Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky could be the difference maker for West Ham.
It is clearly in Kretinsky’s interests as the club’s second biggest shareholder that West Ham are successful.
Moyes has put the Hammers in a magnificent position to achieve something memorable.
So don’t discount the Scot getting exactly what he wants come January.
The difference Kretinsky could make is fronting that extra cash needed to persuade clubs to part with the kind of players – and particularly a striker – Moyes and head of recruitment Rob Newman have lined up.