**West Ham United are interested in a January move for FC Midtjylland striker Franculino **Djú**** **, according to the [Mirror](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/west-ham-transfer-news-mainoo-36235745). The Guinea-Bissau International is a player a lot of Hammers fans want at the club.**
With West Ham’s lack of good forward options and Germany striker Niclas Fullkrug is expected to leave in January, it is crucial that West Ham United sign a striker in January to aid their bid of remaining in the Premier League.
Despite it only being November, there have been a lot of rumour going around about who West Ham United could sign – from Premier League proven Ivan Toney to a young and unproven striker in Franculino Djú.
The 21-year-old has been excellent for Midtjylland this season in what is already his third season of first-team football. He has scored 19 goals and provided three assists in 26 matches in all competitions so far, an excellent output. This follows the 23/24 campaign where he managed 17 goals and four assists in 33 matches and the 24/25 season with 16 goals and six assists in 41 matches.
He’s clearly a consistent performer in Denmark, but transferring that to the Premier League will be a difficult task.
He’s not exactly the tallest of forwards at 6’1 however, his wide frame and strength allows him to hold up the ball and retain possession, something that is important to a Nuno Espirito Santo team.
But what is equally as important to s Nuno team is pace – Franculino Djú has that in abundance. His short to medium bursts of pace make him an incredible asset to have on the counterattack, this is something we can’t do too successfully with Wilson, Fullkrug or even Paqueta leading the line. His ability to run in behind, dribbling skills and pressing also make him a better fit for Nuno’s system.
Not only is he just a pace and dribbling machine, he also can mix it up and get involved with the play like Wilson and Fullkrug, this gives him pretty much every characteristic you need to be a striker under Nuno Espirito Santo. The only doubt is that he’s used to playing with partner up top in a 4-4-2, something that is never going to happen under Nuno.
However, the question is, is he ready for the Premier League? Well he’s been on fire in the Europa League so far, even scoring against Celtic, it will be interesting to see how he does against Seri A giants Roma in a couple of weeks time.
However, its not even just a question of is he ready for the Premier League, is he ready for a Premier League relegation scrap? And is he what we need to get us out of trouble. It’s a tough decision, but if Nuno thinks he has everything to make it in his system, we should take the risk. When we play if safe with strikers it still always goes wrong, so lets take the risk.
In an ideal world, we would splash the cash and sign Djú alongside a proven top-level bagsman like Ivan Toney. However, Midtjylland are reportedly going to demand £20-25m for their star man and someone like Ivan Toney would probably cost upwards of £30m.
I can’t see David Sullivan and the board splashing 50/60m on two strikers in January when we also need a central midfielder and a central defender in January, but I think we need to seriously consider it if we find ourselves in a similar predicament to where we are now come January.
Hypothetically, if we had to choose, between Djú and someone like Toney, I think I’d go with Djú. He is much younger and will probably be hungrier to succeed at West Ham and thats what we need at the club in what could be a scrappy end to the season.