On the face of it, the reported interest shown by West Ham United in Napoli’s striker Giovanni Simeone seemed a non-news story: Almost thirty years old, a non prolific scorer from Napoli although Argentinian by birth, the striker surely doesn’t represent the answer to West Ham United’s front man crisis.
After the thirty-something striker issues with Messrs Antonio and Ings at London Stadium, plus the injury-stricken disaster that is Niclas Fullkrug, I found myself thinking ‘don’t West Ham ever learn’? Surely the answer is youth, pace, potential – rather than chucking money away on a player who will be worth nothing in three or four years time. Hasn’t the Fullkrug episode taught the Hammers recruitment team anything.
Apparently ‘not’ if this report is anything to go by.
At twenty nine, Simeone is a bit of a journeyman. The ‘exclusive’ report from FootballTransfers.com entitled ‘West Ham have reached out to Serie A club Napoli over a possible deal for Giovanni Simeone in the January transfer window,” details the plain evidence that:”The 29-year-old Argentine is the son of legendary Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone. Currently playing for Napoli, the forward has scored 97 goals in 350 matches, with a standout 17-goal season for Hellas Verona in 2021/22.
Even though he is not a prolific goal-scorer, his experience and spatial awareness has piqued the interest of the West Ham hierarchy, we are told.” Standout season 2021/22. Says it all really. I think we were linked with the player several years ago following that ‘standout’ season but nothing materialised. As I racked my brains I remember skysports.com writing an article on him 12 months ago about ‘Premier League Clubs On Alert’ from which nothing transpired. And, now a year older, further past his peak – would he be any Hammers’ fan’s first choice?
A decent enough medical history with no serious injuries is about the only ‘plus’ with Simeone. He’s hardly going to set the world on fire and could well be another who ‘can’t get upto speed’ with the Premier League. And we’ve had enough of those.
“I study the goalkeepers a lot now because it is important for forwards to know the behaviour of goalkeepers when they shoot.
I need to know their movements. I study that a lot, really in depth so that when I am on the pitch, I know when and where to shoot.
It is all in my notebook. Before every game I write down the names of the players. I write out my visualisations for different scenarios. And I write about the goalkeeper. What is the best thing that I can do against that goalkeeper? Then I visualise that shot.”
That was Simeone in an interview with Sky Sports effectively openly admitting he’s a crap striker there. The main attribute of a striker is a clinical instinct, not a script.
Westham can’t afford to waste any more money on old donkeys . We’ve got Kudus and he can play CF ; He’s got pace , skill and an awesome shot and would do well against a high line , so rotate him with Antonio and Ings until seasons end and then buy a real 60 million striker because there are nothing but crappy options for 30 million .
Think we’ve had 3 managers at West Han since being first linked to this striker.
Think it’s safe to say the only one consistent despite the various managers / head coach is Sullivan 🤦♂️