The West Ham United bosses won’t need reminding that bringing a young, largely unproven forward to the Premier League from abroad always carries a sizeable degree of risk.
Take Gianluca Scamacca, for instance.
A 16-goal centre-forward in Serie A with Sassuolo, yet one who never looked suited to the physicality of English football during his one and only, injury-hit season at West Ham United.
A 22-year-old Albian Ajeti came and went without scoring a single goal in English football, despite a prolific track record in Switzerland.
If the step up from Switzerland to England proved too steep for Ajeti, it goes without saying that Mathias Kvistgaarden would arrive at the London Stadium from Denmark amid familiar concerns.
Kvistgaarden has been likened to Celtic legend Henrik Larsen by some, including ex-Real Madrid, Everton and Denmark midfielder Thomas Graversen. He also scored an impressive 23 goals across all competitions last season for Brondby.
And a reported fee of around £12 million, some may argue, makes Kvistgaarden an affordable risk worth taking for a West Ham side who may be limited to less-established, more-low cost striker options this summer.
Erik Larsen shares Mathias Kvistgaarden doubts after West Ham United links
Erik Larsen, an experienced talentspotter who worked as a scout for Swansea City, Getafe, Real Mallorca and co, is rather less positive in his assessment of Mathias Kvistgaarden.
Impressive though his numbers were in a Brondby shirt last season, Larsen harbours doubts over the newly-capped Denmark international’s physical capabilities and his fitness record.
“If he’s going to cost 100 million [Danish Krone], I think that’s outrageous,” Larsen tells Via Play.
“I’m not saying I have a hard time seeing [his talent, but] I will have a hard time understanding it if it happens. But I would also like to see it happen first.
“He has some strengths, and then he has some areas where he is less strong. That is often the case with players. It is rare that all players have all the qualities.”
While it would be harsh in the extreme to label Kvistgaarden ‘injury prone’, he has missed 14 matches since March 2024 due to a series of short-to-medium term niggles and knocks.
“I’m super excited to see how he holds up physically,” adds Larsen, who also worked briefly as an assistant to Michael Laudrup during Swansea’s EFL Cup-winning days. “I would like to see him play in the Bundesliga and give it full throttle week after week.
“I simply don’t think [a big-money sale] is going to happen. I don’t know if I’m the only one who has noticed that he’s injured from time to time, but it could also be that there are others who have noticed it.”
Brondby are ready to talk regarding Denmark striker Kvistgaarden
Hammers News understands that West Ham remain keen on Emanuel Emegha and Baris Alper Yilmaz of Strasbourg and Galatasaray respectively, to name but two. The Hammers appear to be prioritising young, athletic, mobile centre-forwards, and the nippy Kvistgaarden fits the bill.
Director Benjamin Schmedes is urging West Ham to contact Brondby, meanwhile, in order to clarify their stance.
“We know [Kvistgaarden] is a big profile, and it also creates more attention when he makes his debut for the national team,” Schmedes says of a striker who made his senior Denmark debut in a 2-1 win over Northern Ireland this month.
“If anyone is interested, they should contact us. If something comes up that we find interesting, we’ll sit down and talk about it.
“It’s a very open dialogue with Mathias and his backroom team. I can only say that everything is fine so far, but I’m lucky and happy that it’s not the newspapers that decide when the time is right for a sale. We’re all on the same page so far.
“It doesn’t surprise me that there is interest in him from the right and left, but I can’t say that he is close to being sold or far from it right now. It is a process that is ongoing.
“The most important thing is that we are very transparent in our dialogue with each other
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