One of the curious stories emerging just before Christmas concerned one of West Ham’s stated striker targets for the January window. Hammers obviously need to recruit for the forward line especially with Antonio’s season-long absence and Niclas Fullkrug’s dubious commitment to the club beyond January. The cupboard is getting pretty bare as far as fit and firing front men.
West Ham’s stated aim of prospecting for the best players in the championship has led them to being linked before with Middlesboro’s striker Emmanuel Latte Lath: A post on twitter on 24th December claimed his agent had been at West Ham’s training ground ‘in recent days’.
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Many outlets have leapt on this as ‘conclusive evidence’ that Latte Lath is on the verge of signing as a West Ham United player in the January window. Middlesboro’ have already stated that they do not want to let the 25 year old leave mid-way through their promotion campaign under former Hammer manager Michael Carrick.
One random picture of the Hammers’ academy building and a twitter post from a Boro’ blog doesn’t make it true. However, we know that West Ham have been looking at the striker having dispatched scouts to see him at Oxford back in November.
Latte Lath has 9 goals and 2 assists in the Championship so far this season: We’ve already written that he’d be a good addition to West Ham’s front line and decent value at £20 million . More concrete news is needed before we get too excited about the Ivorian coming to East London. Certainly the right price, age and playing style profile though so we’ll keep a close eye on this story and let you know if it develops.