While Harry Kane and Erling Haaland set the pace in this season’s European Golden Boot race, West Ham United are just glad to learn that there is plenty of bite left in the old dog that is Callum Wilson.
In just four Premier League starts since joining the Hammers on a free transfer, the former – and if he gets his way ‘future’ – England international has scored more goals than Niclas Fullkrug has in nearly a year and a half.
Callum Wilson is averaging a goal a start in a West Ham United shirt. Suddenly, a transfer many wrote off as ‘madness’ is threatening to become something closer to a ‘masterstroke’.
No wonder he is leaving his summer plans open. A World Cup spot firmly in Wilson’s sights.
Speaking of masterstroke signings, the striker joining Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe at the top of the continental scoring charts could potentially become Wilson’s long-term successor at the London Stadium.
West Ham reportedly saw a £13 million bid rejected by FC Midtjylland for the much-coveted Franculino Dju in the death throes of the summer window. As January approaches, The Mirror claim that Franculino remains on the Hammers’ wishlist.
Nuno Espirito Santo wants a striker, that is for sure.
And what Franculino lacks in proven elite-level productivity – ex-Brentford favourite Ivan Toney is the preferred pick of many supporters – the 21-year-old Guinea Bissau international more than makes up for in raw, unfiltered, seemingly unlimited potential.
Franculino Dju celebrates a goal for FC Midtjylland
Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images
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Franculino Dju matches Harry Kane and Erling Haaland as West Ham United eye striking sensation
Nuno described El Hadji Malick Diouf as a ‘diamond’ when discussing the talented left-back’s bright start to life in English football a few weeks ago.
Still only 20, the summer signing from Slavia Prague is a gem West Ham plan to ‘polish’.
Diouf’s progress has been nothing short of ‘incredible’ over the last couple of seasons. From an academy in Senegal to the Premier League in the blink of an eye.
Franculino Dju’s own career seems to be moving in a similar direction, at a similarly rapid pace.
Is Franculino Dju the striker West Ham have been crying out for?
“His level is high enough that he can reach as far as he wants,” Midtjylland winger Dario Osorio told Campo this week, after Barcelona reportedly joined Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and co in chasing the free-scoring frontman.
“He knows how far he wants to go and I believe he can achieve it. ‘Francu’ has scored a lot of goals.”
Nineteen, in fact. In the Danish Superliga alone, Franculino has hit the target 14 times in 15 matches.
If you take the so-called ‘top five’ leagues of European football – the Premier League, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 – and expand it to the top-15, Franculino ranks joint top across the whole of the continent.
His tally of 15 league goals is the same as Harry Kane has mustered for Bayern Munich, and level with Manchester City’s Targaryan Terminator Erling Haaland.
No one has scored more than Franculino.
Hammers face potential Bayern Munich battle for Midtjylland star
Of course, Sonderjyske, Vejle BK and FC Fredericia are a very different standard of opposition compared to what Kane and Haaland are used to.
But following in the footsteps of Diouf, Mohammed Kudus and more, the latest African sensation to become a Scandinavian star will inevitably be handed the chance to prove he belongs alongside the Kanes and the Haalands of the world soon enough.
Links with Bayern Munich just aren’t going away. Could Franculino become Kane’s deputy, or his protege, at the Allianz Arena? Reported interest from Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain highlights the size of the task facing West Ham, should they look to pick up where they left off last summer.
January sale would be ‘the stupidest thing’ as West Ham sent warning
February cannot come soon enough already, meanwhile, for Midtjylland and their sporting director Kristian Bak Bach.
Midtjylland are determined to keep Franculino for the remainder of the season. Of course they do. FCM have a league title to defend, and the latter stages of the Europa League to gatecrash.
“If we win titles and perform well in Europe, then we will both achieve our dreams,” Bach Bak told Bold last week. “This is exactly the journey we want to take with our players. And considering the average age of the first team, it goes without saying that people are keeping an eye on what is happening in FCM.”
“Franculino knows that his dream will be achieved if we achieve something big together this season.
Who has been your Player of the Season so far? And is there anyone we have left off this list?
“Football is football, so we shouldn’t talk about amounts and prices. The most important thing is trust and that the club and the player have the same plan. So, it’s 100 per cent the plan to keep the team together until the summer.
“Strategically, it would be the stupidest thing to do if we sold out halfway through the season. It is also a plan that has been made with the players.”
While some may have reservations about whether Franculino could handle the substantial step up from Danish football to the English Premier League, it should be said that his European record is just as impressive.
Franculino scored a glorious curling effort against Celtic this month, and hit a Europa League brace against Maccabi Tel Aviv.
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