By Kris Gonzo | Senior West Ham Columnist (Follow on X)
West Ham have moved quickly after their latest attempt to sign Troy Parrott collapsed, with Joel Piroe now believed to have reached a personal agreement with the Hammers.
But I’m struggling to see this as particularly good news.
Missing out on Parrott is a big disappointment because I believe his pace, pressing and movement would have added something West Ham desperately need.
Piroe Feels Like The Emergency Option
Piroe may well prove me wrong, but right now he feels very much like the emergency striker option after West Ham failed to land their preferred target.
The proposed deal is expected to be cheaper, potentially structured as a loan with an obligation to buy, but whether that saving is then used to strengthen elsewhere remains to be seen.
Only two days ago, Parrott remained firmly in West Ham’s sights, so this has been quite a dramatic change of direction.
In this video, I discuss why the Parrott deal collapsed, the rapid switch to Piroe and why I’m not quite ready to put a positive spin on West Ham’s latest change of transfer plans.
Piroe has scored 73 goals in 179 Championship games so he’s not a bad second option.
I don’t know either player but Parrott is young with potential to build on? I thought that was the model. Piroe is not young and is a misfit in premiership club so probably never good enough at that level? Let’s just hope he can do it in the championship I guess but then we are stuck with him
Just as a matter of fact, Parrot has no record of success in the Championship. So I don’t know why people seem to have pinned all our hopes on him based on chatter. Now I’ve no idea how Piroe will get on, just as I don’t know Parrot would, but I do know he’s capable of a good return of goals in the Championship. Isn’t that so we’re after ? Anyone claiming to know otherwise is guessing.
Did not Koppen and Nuno watch Fleming yesterday? That intensity is what we need! Is he also “too expensive”? This whole “not wanting to pay up” for Parrott brings back memories of the failure to get Jhon Duran and in the end settling for Fullkrug, the cheaper option.
people need to remember that Leeds played on the front foot every game in the championship, he also had Summerville on a wing stretching them.
unless we change the way we play, he could be another ineffective forward….
The reason Parrott broke down is money . We are bad surely better to pay an extra few million then buy a striker I am not one bit happy to buy. Parrott has pace and quality we need Koppen and the board should be ashamed . Duped the fans with promises . We are not getting the first choices we said I’m not even sure Piroe is a second choice what a shambles we are . Surely we need quality not Someone who is available . We can afford Parrott with more outgoings expected so short sighted by the board and Koppen they should go and resurrect the deal and pay the cash needed.
I’m a Leeds fan and you will find that not only can he finish but he has intelligent movement and passing. Top striker for the Championship.
Make sure you smash Millbrawl
For my money Piroe out scores parrot in the championship all day long. I like piroe and he’s done the championship before with good success. People will complain about this but I’d be happy personally.
Time to wake up and realise we have been conned by kretinsky and his buddies to get us to buy season tickets. They have no intention of spending the transfer income and will wait until late in the window to sell alvarez,tobido,wan basaka and diouf so they can say they didn’t have time to get replacements. I’m beginning to think we were better off with sullivan at least we knew what we were dealing with.
obviously not read one word of any of the myriad articles posted about Amanda Staveley. where you been buddy? as soon as she got involved, i wouldn’t have chucked in $90 mill of my own money that could be just water down a drain either. this transfer window has been ruined by an ownership battle
We are a joke, Gonzo, pure and simple. How many times have we ended up with anyone but our first choice target? I saw nothing yesterday that has me believing promotion is achievable and Piroe, who didn’t score in 16 games last season is who we are now looking to get us out of this tough league, overwhelmed!!
He’s slower than Parrott too , we need pace typical West Ham . I’m not happy either
Great research Julian. 16 games?
Barely played last year, few mins here and there. So in fact it’s 0 goals in 246 prem minutes or just over 2.7 games.
We’re in the championship btw where Piroe ripped it up for Swansea and Leeds.
We need 2 strikers. As Sunday proved we don’t have enough attacking options.
Add to that a CB as Killman still a liability defensively, a left back if El Diouf goes (Scarles makes too many mistakes) and a defensive midfielder if Alvarez goes (too often Burnley sliced through out midfield too easily)
Chris – The club needs to tell us the gap in valuation on the Troy Parrott transfer. We walked away over how much exactly? If Betis are prepared to meet the AZ valuation then why aren’t we given we will bank £20m for AWB and £45m for Diouf this week. When Tatty downs tools we are right in the brown stuff. Disappointment after disappointment. No Parrott, no Desasi, no full backs, no leader at the back and no quality.
Parrott would be ideal but if we didn’t want to pay the price, then I’m at least glad we realise we can’t delay any longer. Piroe is a proven Championship performer, a compromise for sure, but if he helps us get promoted then that is the main thing. The fact that we want a loan with an obligation to buy indicates we are financially quite limited. Don’t forget we still hope to buy Disasi for £25m and clearly we need cover on the wings. Can’t quite work out what the plan is in midfield but another option at 10 and even a cdm may be required. Enjoy the ride if you can.
Do koppins and the rest not see the huge issues we have in the squad, namely we have a massive lack of pace throughout the side and their solution? Let’s get yet another slow immobile player! I’d rather go and get vardy (and I don’t really want him) I’m seriously worried that the recruitment team isn’t very good at resolving the issues in the squad
Parott has scored around 10 goals in the Champinship in 6 years. Piro has scored around 70 in 3 years. Its pretty cler which one we shluld be going for to get us out of this division
Would rather take Flemming on, he is relentless. Burnley are more or least sure they will lose him before the transfer deadline.