Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that neither Javier Hernandez or Michail Antonio will be leaving West Ham following the arrival of Sebastien Haller.
And he has made it clear that he is now working on developing the right system following the arrival of the club’s record signing at €45 million.
Although a second striker was thought to be on the agenda, finances are now very tight and it seems probable that the three front man on the books will be sharing the front duties this term.
Nothing has been ruled out thus far but thoughts that Chicharito may follow Andy Carroll, Lucas Perez and Marko Arnautovic out of the club are remote.
Pellegrini, however, is delighted with the new boy from Frankfurt after the failed six month pursuit of Maxi Gomez.there is relief that we have finally got a top line striker among the management team.
Pelle told whufc.com at https://www.whufc.com/news/articles/2019/july/17-july/sebastien-haller-important-striker-our-squad-manuel-pellegrini: “We signed Sebastian Haller because we need a striker and he is an important striker for our squad
“He had a very good season in the Bundesliga and Haller will play more as a centre forward, but he can also play as a winger so we have another option on the wing.
“When you compare the squad list to last season, we need players in his position. We lost Marko Arnautovic, Andy Carroll and Lucas Perez already this summer.
“So, we needed to find a new one and we have different options now. He is not only a box player, he will play well outside of the box. It will be his first season in England and I know he will be a good striker for our team.
“We also have Michail Antonio and Javier Hernandez [who can play up front] too. I think we are going to have a good squad and now we have to find the right system.”
Pellegrini also dismissed the suggestion that the signing of Haller, who has scored more than 100 career goals for club and country, means any of the aforementioned forward players will be allowed to leave before the transfer window closes in early August.
But the manager did admit that players in other positions may be allowed to leave.
“Haller coming will be good for us,” he confirmed, “and at this moment we are not losing any more players in attacking areas of the squad. In other areas, we will see.”
Hallers a good signing but you can’t move 3 forwards out and replace with 1 no matter what they cost .Antonio can play there but he struggles to score so if haller and the pea are injured were do the goals come from..
Hammerkip that is a very good point and knowing our luck over the past few seasons haller will get injured early in the season and we end up with no striker can’t rely on the pea and Antonio we need 15 goals at least a season from strikers then we can dream ..
If Aubameyang and Lacazette get injured, who’ll score 15 for Arsenal? If Lukaku and Rashford get injured, who’ll score 15 goals for Man United? Aguero and Jesus etc.
You have two main strikers and then you make do. Who would come in and be 3rd or 4th choice striker at West Ham? Jordan Hugill perhaps.
I dont know why we have this obsession for strikers… we should play the modern way, like Liverpool or Man City (am not comparing us to them just using them examples of teams who play a modern style). So that means we play with a three up front, consisting of one out and out striker and 2 wider forwards.
MC & LFC use players like Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Saha and Mane – as attacking wider players – Effectively former midfielders. We have Anderson, Yarmolenko, Antonio, Diangana, Lanzini, Fornals and maybe even Holland and Snodgrass who couldl adequately play this role.
For the out and out striker we have Haller and Chicharito, with Antonio and Yarmolenko (originally a striker) able to cover at an injury push.
Another back up striker may be nice, but not the end of the world if we dont get one and as long as we play a 4-3-3, (that transitions into a 4-5-1 without the ball).