Six weeks left before Christmas means a hectic Championship period with West Ham United facing nine games before the transfer window opens once again: It hardly seems a month since the summer window closed.
West Ham have, according to journo Alan Nixon, as we covered earlier, made their top transfer targets clear: A left back and a striker. The poor performance of the frontline trio at east London – with Joel Piroe the best of a bad bunch – has left Scott Parker pushing for a new frontman in January.
Pablo Felipe- monumental waste of money who’s impact has been minimal
Which brings West Ham into direct conflict with about half the teams in the Championship who will be turning over every stone looking to unearth a proven goalscorer – but one rival in particular has the stated aim of bringing in a striker.
According to live score.com, Southampton are very likely going to be running the rule over the very same players which Nils Koppen will be considering as the two clubs go head to head in their search for goal scorer:
“Southampton aren’t alone as West Ham also set sights on January striker signing…
It will be interesting to see what route the Saints go down with a striker purchase in January, as Nixon states that West Ham want a seasoned pro…
Whereas, the South Coast giants could go down the more youthful route, with Evan Ferguson still only 22 years of age, as one possible loan addition from Brighton and Hove Albion.”
Good luck with that: Evan Ferguson proved one of West Ham’s less inspired loan signings and there is nothing to show his form or his fitness has improved in the two years since he spent half a season pretending to be a fit functional West Ham player.
Chances are, whichever club finds the best solution to their goal scoring issues will most likely be the one which wins the race to get back into the automatic promotion places. Southampton lie just one solitary point ahead of West Ham now, meaning the stakes could not be higher.
My money’s on Koppen pulling a rabbit from the striker hat: Either way, West Ham can surely only do better than the £47 million blown on Taty and Pablo a year ago. Suddenly, Evan Ferguson doesn’t seem so bad…