‘Salech’ Links Show West Ham Surely Shopping In The Wrong Aisle With ‘Pace’ The Priority

By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)

ExWHUEmployee has been posting regularly over the last few days, and his latest update on Patreon is linking West Ham with Cardiff City striker Yousef Salech.

The 6’5″ frontman is said to be in the Chris Wood mould and, according to ExWHUEmployee, fits the profile of exactly what Nuno Espírito Santo is looking for up front.

I have to say that I find this one difficult to get excited about.

Another Big Man Is Not The Answer

I am not going to pretend I have seen a great deal of Salech, so I will not make a definitive judgement on the player himself.

But, as I argued only the other day in the case of Swansea’s Zan Vipotnik, I am far from convinced that a hulking target man should be anywhere near the top of Nuno’s summer wish list.

Honestly, the thought of going into next season with yet another physically imposing striker who struggles to operate at Premier League pace is not one that fills me with confidence.

And if we are genuinely pursuing these types of players, it raises a rather obvious question about what exactly is the plan for Pablo.

The Pablo Problem Won’t Go Away

Pablo is precisely that mould of striker.

He arrived at the London Stadium for £20 million in January and failed to score a single goal in claret and blue.

So the idea of spending again on another big man, when we already have one sitting on the books who could not buy a goal, is one that I’m not too excited about.

It feels like addressing a problem we do not have while ignoring the one we do.

The squad does not need more of the same.

West Ham Need Pace And Runners

West Ham’s issue for a long time now has been too many slow players in the forward line.

We are crying out for pace, for runners, for somebody who can stretch a back four and get in behind.

Personally, I would be looking for a sharp, mobile forward to complement Castellanos, Pablo and, hopefully, Callum Wilson, should he put pen to paper.

A 6’5″ target man who occupies the same zone as a striker we probably cannot shift will not change that one jot.

There may well be a market for Salech at Championship level, but at this stage of West Ham’s rebuild under a new ownership structure the club needs to be thinking about a different type of player entirely.

On Salech, much like Vipotnik before him, it is a firm no from me.

At the moment, it increasingly feels like West Ham are being offered the same player under a different name, and that leaves me just as unimpressed as it did last week.