Hammers revisit Tim Steidten’s January striker target

It is welcome news for supporters to follow West Ham’s approach as the transfer window gets closer. Instead of endless stories of the usual ‘West Ham’ type of recruit which is classically older players or free transfers of Premier League journeymen – there does seem a real freshness about the reports of players in the Hammers’ sights for June.

All seem younger, probably because there is no bulging wallet to pay several tens of millions for thirty year old players whose clubs expect a premium.

West Ham have to go ferreting around in the bargains bucket and the ‘future stars’ box, but there are encouraging signs that recruits will be stars on the way up rather than on the way down.

One such report concerns a forward with whom West Ham were linked in January.

Probably using data from departed technical director Tim Steidten’s little black book, West Ham have renewed their scouting of Evann Guessand, the Nice forward.  The striker was apparently on the Hammers’ radar in the last window and is again under consideration. Football-talk.co.uk:

“Claim that West Ham want a new forward and have expressed their interest in Guessand. The East London club have been monitoring his development closely before making a potential move.

Their scouts watched him in action against Olympique Lyonnais and Auxerre; the forward was bright in both games and scored against Auxerre.

The 23-year-old is valued at around £21m by Transfermarkt and still has three years left in his current contract. So, Nice are likely to demand a sizable amount of money to let him leave.”

Guessand was back on-form in the first half of this season, with eight goals and four assists in 17 matches. There’s the usual reported interest from Arsenal and Everton but he doesn’t seem to be a big enough name for the Gunners to chase. Perfect for West Ham. Young enough, fit enough, cheap enough and on the way up.

Which is likely to be the description of every new recruit this summer!