In May last year West Ham Joint Chairman David Sullivan made that now famous claim of needing a 20 year a season striker.
“We know that we need a top striker which is the hardest thing to sign. We need a 20-goal-a-season striker and that will cost us £25m or £30million. That is where the bulk of the money goes.” Sullivan said at the time.
Romelu Lukaku proved he is one of the rare bred of strikers after he scored four goals yesterday to put him on sixteen goals for the season. At the half way point Diego Costa and Alexis Sánchez both have 15, Jermain Defoe, Harry Kane and Zlatan Ibrahimović are both on 14 while Agüero is on 11 with half of the season gone. Historically on average only three of them will make the twenty goal tally.
With the exception of Jermain Defoe none of these strikers would cost under £30m and are unlikely to join West Ham.
Last season only Harry Kane, Sergio Aguero and Jamie Vardy managed the feat of scoring more than twenty goals. We allegedly tried to bid for Vardy before he re-signed for Leicester but in reality why would he have given up Champions league football for us.
The season before that (2014/2015) only Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane and Diego Costa got over that twenty goal tally.
Technically only John Hartson has scored more than twenty goals in the Premier League for the Hammers since it’s formation in 1992. However nine other Hammers have managed the feat before the Premier League was formed.
Vic Watson Goals per season 1923-1924 (23) 1925-1926(20) 1926-1927(37) 1928-1929(30) 1929-1930(50) 1931-1932(25) 1932-1933(28) 1933-1934(29)
John Dick Goals per season 1958-1959(30) 1961/1962 (23)
Malcolm Musgrove Goals per season 1959/1960 (20)
Budgie Byrne Goals per season 1963/1964 (33) 1964/1965(30)
Geoff Hurst Goals per season 1964/1964 (26) 1964/1965
(20) 1965/1966 (40) 1966/1967 (41) 1967/1968 (25) 1968/1969 (31)
Clyde Best Goals per season 1971/1972 (23)
Pop Robson Goals per season 1972/1973 (28)
Frank McAvennie 1985/1986 (29)
Tony Cottee 1984/1985 (24) 1985/1986(26) 1986/1987(29)
John Hartson Goals per season 1997/1998 (24)
Will West Ham ever have a twenty goal plus striker again?
It could well be that we don’t ever see one. Spreading goals around the team reduces reliance on an individual who could get crocked (see Sakho & Carroll) and prevents teams marking the main man out of the game. If we are to ever see a 20-goal striker, the most likely candidate is Toni Martinez; already here and already banging them in. For Oxford, on loan, admittedly, but next season, who knows?
If finding a 20 goal a season striker was just about money im sure we would have found one out of the so called 32 strikers the board have brought through the door in their time so far. As we saw in the summer window any striker in that bracket or the potential to be did not want to come to west ham. I feel we have to produce a home grown from the youth talent or go and gamble in the lower league.
We should have stumped up the cash for Lukaku, to be honest when they paid 28.5 million for them I thought it was a bit over the top and understood why we didn’t but they were proved right, he is getting better and better, since Koeman told Barclay he should be doing more and that he wouldn’t be picked on his potential he has really upped his game, I never really thought of him as a threat before because he was a headless show pony most games but Koeman is getting the best out of Everton and most of his players, imo they look the most likely team to break into the top six, we are not more than the best of the rest and on form WBA are even beating us there.
I suggested under another story here that Carroll could perhaps get to 15. He is about halfway there. But don’t think he will- for an obvious reason! He could be 20 a season, but doubt he ever will get that in a season now. Such a shame.
Good stats there Sean. Looking on the bright side for once we know have a few midfielders who can chip in -Antonio, Snodgrass, Kouyate. Lanzini, Ayew ( maybe). So with a couple of strikers who each get 10-15 you would not be short of goals. Maybe we should give up the search for a £30m main man & look for another cheaper backup for AC & Sakho (assuming they stay). Still think Defoe could fill that role short term.