There has been a striker issue at West Ham for a number of years. You could say since the Dean Ashton era, who was a top striker, unfortunately forced to retire in the prime of his career due to an ankle injury. Moreover, one Carlos Tevez, was never going to stay long after his heroics. In recent times, we have experimented with Marko Arnautovic, converted into a central striker under David Moyes.
It was a success short-term but as with Lingard, it appeared money was his driving force, moving to China to play football, now in Italy, with Inter Milan. We have also seen Michail Antonio converted into a central striker, again under David Moyes. To be fair to Antonio, on the whole it’s been successful, becoming West Ham’s all time Premier League top goal scorer.
Furthermore, we now have Jarrod Bowen playing as a central striker at times. Again, Bowen has done a remarkable job, largely due to his tenacity and willingness to work hard and fight for the team. With Mohammed Kudus at the club, it can be tricky to get both players in the same team as they both do their best work on the right-hand side, cutting in on their left foot. So, if both are to play, is Bowen our main striker? Can Antonio become fit again after his road traffic accident? Will we play Bowen and Kudus more centrally together in Potter’s 3-5-2 formation? Will our new loan signing, Evan Ferguson become our main striker?
The Arrival of Evan Ferguson
So onto our loan signing this January transfer window Evan Ferguson. What do I know about him? Well, from what I’ve seen so far since he’s been at West Ham, not much to be honest. This is due to only three substitution appearances made so far. Let’s look at it another way. What I see is a young player, with potential, who has already had previous success and plaudits during his spell at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Part of that success was under the stewardship of West Ham’s new current manager, Graham Potter. Does the rekindling of this partnership lead to success? I really hope it does. I think for both manager and player, it is a fresh start. Potter is rebuilding his managerial career after his spell in charge of Chelsea and Ferguson is looking to put injuries behind him and get back to scoring goals in the Premier League.
Potter’s Youth Project
What I’ve seen of Potter is that he appears to have good man-management skills, already getting the best out of Lucas Paqueta but in addition to this, instilling faith in a certain young academy player, Ollie Scarles, who has been superb in his first team experiences. Like Scarles, Ferguson is young and if it’s true that Potter sees youthful players as the future of his project at West Ham then Ferguson could be the right fit for the Hammers.
A throw-back striker: a target man, comfortable with both his left foot and right foot, good with his head and willing to work for the team. A mix maybe of John Hartson and Dean Ashton – two of my favourite West Ham strikers. I am hopeful that this works out for everyone involved. I think if he gets a run in the team, West Ham could have a young, hungry striker for years to come, working alongside the pace of Bowen, Kudus and not forgetting Crysencio Summerville.
Experimenting for the Future
With no option to buy though, as reported, it may just be a short-term loan with a lack of game time due to Bowen playing as a striker with Kudus playing off of him with wing backs either side of them. However it’s a nice option to have for sure. If I’m honest, I’d like to see Ferguson get a chance to show us what he’s got in his locker. We are not going to be relegated and we are not getting into Europe.
I hope Potter experiments a bit and if he sees Ferguson as the future, I’d trust him and let’s get a deal done. Bowen was young and hungry and look what West Ham have got now: a top Premier League and international player. Let’s give youth a chance I say and move away from a Sebastien Haller, Gianluca Scamacca type signing. As well as this, from reports, it looks like Niclas Fullkrug wants a move back to Germany and I feel Antonio will be an impact substitution, if he manages to get himself back to full fitness, which I hope he does.
The Risks of the January Window
Looking at the January transfer window in general, it’s always a strange one with fans around the country generally wanting an additional player added to the squad either on a permanent or loan deal. West Ham fans are no different, particularly when we are crying out for a signing in a particular position.
We have had some success in this window in recent times; notably the loan signing of Jesse Lingard in 2021, during the lockdown period. This was a huge success both for the player and the club. His impact was huge and he hit the ground running, immediately scoring two goals in a 3-1 away win at Aston Villa. Unfortunately for both parties, Lingard was not to join permanently, and is now playing his football in South Korea. Before that, an unsuccessful spell at Nottingham Forest. A reported £200k a week perhaps cushioned the blow for the player.
More recently, we had the hugely disappointing loan spell of Kalvin Phillips who did the opposite really. He had a negative impact in the opening minutes of his debut against Bournemouth; a poor back pass, resulting in a goal. His time at the club did not improve and my point being is that it’s difficult to tell how well a January signing will do, especially if it’s a loan deal.
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