20/20 hindsight is always something to guard against when aiming criticism at those in authority at West Ham:. However the one thing Hammers fans were clear about for all of last year, having found ut the hard way, was the danger lurking in relying on thirty-something injury prone frontmen.
The transfer window just closed offered opportunities galore for young, upwardly mobile promising striker talents to be brought into the club but West Ham stuck with that tried and tested option of a free signing: Callum Wilson appeared much to the consternation of supporters. As it has turned out, Wilson is already causing fans to reassess their opinion of him after a superb ‘Forest appearance. But after he missed most of last season through injury and was released by Newcastle United, it must have been clear that he was only good for a cameo there and there.
The stubborn refusal to bring in young, attacking talent has backfired less than five days into the season with the unwelcome news from Germany that Niclas Fullkrug is heading home with a calf injury.
Most Read on West Ham News
What makes matters worse now is that one of Kyle Macaulay’s top West Ham’s striker targets – Idrissa Gueye – was as it turns out available on a loan deal with the balance payable next year: Italian side Udinesi snapped the young striker up on a season-long loan with an option to buy of just £13.5 million.
West Ham could have done the same deal and brought Gueye to London Stadium, as fans were urging, for next to nothing up front.
It seems a crying shame that nobody at West Ham thought strategically enough to look at such a talented young striker, who Udinese’s own web site describes: “He is a fast, mobile forward with an excellent physical build who has already shown what he can do while playing for Metz in France.”
“Judge us after the window” the board said in the summer. Five days after the closure, and already the Hammers have been found wanting with Niclas Fullkrug injured and Callum Wilson the only fit striker. There were options to bring in forwards, as it turned out, at no up-front cost. Just that the club were either blind to the opportunity or incompetent in their negotiation ability.
Either of which is pretty unforgivable. Wait’ til he goes on to start scoring in Italy. That’ll be doubly damning.