It will be all change for West Ham United in the summer transfer window, with a new era set to start at the London Stadium. David Moyes left his post as the Hammers manager at the end of the 2023/24 season, with Julen Lopetegui recently confirmed as his replacement.
Indeed, incoming manager Loeptegui will be hoping he can keep hold of the majority of his stars at the London Stadium in order to have a full-strength squad for the start of next season. There are certainly some question marks over a few of his players.
Lucas Paqueta’s future is under question at the moment, due to an investigation, after he “directly sought to influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in certain matches” by receiving yellow cards on purpose, as per the official FA website. The verdict is currently unknown.
West Ham’s other two stars, Jarrad Bowen and Mohammed Kudus, could also leave the London Stadium in the summer. As per one insider, Bowen is wanted by Chelsea, and former West Ham striker Frank McAvennie explained in an interview with Football Insider that Kudus could depart West Ham in the summer.
However, Lopetegui has apparently already set his sights on his first incoming at the London Stadium.
West Ham looking to sign Premier League striker
The man in question here is Nottingham Forest and Nigeria striker Taiwo Awoniyi. Despite a tough season with injuries in 2023/24, the former Union Berlin man impressed and is now wanted by West Ham.
According to a report by Daniel Taylor, the Nottingham Forest correspondent for The Athletic, Awoniyi is of major interest to West Ham this summer as they look to bolster their strike force.
Taylor explained in a transfer Q&A that “David Moyes was also keen and West Ham still like him”, although he did explain that, due to the Nigerian’s persistent injury problems, “his value has diminished”.
Not only that, Taylor claims that the Hammers are one of many Premier League clubs who are interested in bringing Awoniyi to their club. He claims “Chelsea tried for him in the January transfer window”.
He may well cost just £12.7m, which is his transfer value according to Football Observatory. However, that would see Forest make a loss on the deal after they paid Union Berlin £17.5m in 2022.
Another potential stumbling block is the fact that, according to Taylor, Forest would prefer to keep their number nine at the City Ground ahead of an important 2023/24 season, their third consecutive campaign in the Premier League.
What Awoniyi could bring to West Ham
Despite his injury issues this season, Awoniyi still had a good campaign for Nottingham Forest. He played 20 games in the Premier League, scoring six times and registering three assists. However, he missed a block of nine matches and then a block of seven fixtures, due to injury, which meant he could never really get a run of outings together.
His debut Premier League term was a very impressive one. There was a fair amount of pressure on the striker given he was new to the league and signing for a newly promoted side. With that in mind, he scored ten goals and registered one assist in 27 games in the top flight.
Indeed, despite his lack of minutes during the 2023/24 season, Awoniyi’s nine goal involvements would still be a massive benefit for West Ham. Only four Hammers players had more goal involvements than 26-year-old in 2023/24, with Tomas Soucek having the same number. It is also worth remembering that he played fewer games than all players with more goal involvements.
Jarrod Bowen
34
22
Mohammed Kudus
33
14
James Ward-Pwrose
37
14
Lucas Paqueta
31
10
Taiwo Awoniyi
20
9
Tomas Soucek
37
9
Not only would Awoniyi add goals to this West Ham team but also raise the physical floor of the side. He was described as a “monster of an athlete” by journalist David Hundeyin. He is brilliant with his back-to-goal, and his hold-up play is impressive.
He could have a similar impact at West Ham to that of Jean-Phillipe Mateta at Crystal Palace. They are similar players – as per FBref – both proving to be deadly finishers and physical strikers who excel at hold-up play. Mateta has been one of the in-form strikers in the Premier League of late; West Ham would no doubt hope Awoniyi could replicate that form.
According to Fbref, Mateta's expected goals per 90 minutes is 0.43xG with Awoniyi's slightly less, at 0.41xG. West Ham would be bringing in a top striker to the club, purely based on xG.
Bringing in Awoniyi to add some much-needed quality at centre-forward would certainly be an astute piece of business from the Hammers. It would get Lopetegui’s first transfer window off the perfect start, and West ham fans could well start to see the pieces fit into place already for next season.