Michail Antonio has been West Ham’s only senior striker for over a year with the club in its third transfer window without bringing in a replacement for Sebastien Haller.
The Ivory Coast international was not the right fit for David Moyes or the Hammers but a year on from his move to Ajax he has still not been replaced adequately in the squad.
Former Hammer Glen Johnson believes that with ten days left in the January transfer window, West Ham must act to bring in a striker capable of slotting straight into the first XI.
“I believe West Ham should be looking for a striker who would command a starting berth rather than play second fiddle to Michail Antonio,” Johnson told Bettingodds.com. “Michail does have his injuries and I know he scores some goals and he helps them work hard from the front but I think you need an out and out striker, that’s technically good in front of goal, that can score goals out of nothing and can be more of a play-the-ball striker rather than a workhorse.”
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Johnson added: “They should have someone who can work with Antonio or certainly be available when he’s not fit.”
West Ham are in the market for a striker but Moyes refuses to settle for anything less than a player who fits his stringent criteria.
“We’ve been trying probably to get someone who we think can give us competition for Mic for two years,” he said.
“It’s certainly not an easy thing to do, buying a centre-forward. This club has probably brought in more centre-forwards than anybody, many of them expensive and it has been hard to get them to work. I want to bring players in, I want to add to it but I’m not going to do it for the sake of it.”
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Antonio has also added his voice to the clamour to bring in another forward: “One thing that we definitely need is a striker, and the crazy thing is I’m the striker, so somebody is going to come in and try to take my spot,” Antonio said on the Footballer’s Football Podcast. “But I like a challenge, I like having someone there pushing me.”
With ten days remaining in the transfer window time is running out for West Ham but the manager is hopeful there will be some incomings at the London Stadium.
Moyes said: “We would like to add to the squad if we can, if we can find players who we think are more suitable we could do with some more back up if we can but there is never a guarantee in January with the players you want, or if the right ones are available or gettable. But we are certainly looking around.”
https://www.football.london/west-ham-united-fc/transfer-news/west-ham-january-transfer-moyes-22826341
