West Ham United manager Julen Lopetegui needs to sign a top-class centre-forward this summer, there are no two ways about that.
Julen Lopetegui replaced David Moyes as West Ham boss during the off-season, and the Spaniard’s summer transfer window priority is said to be the addition of a proven striker.
It’s little wonder as to why. Michail Antonio has regressed badly over the past year or so, and the Hammers owners and management team cannot afford to allow sentimentality to override their thinking when it comes to the 34-year-old’s future at the London Stadium.
Sure, he can still do a job for West Ham as a squad player, but that’s about it. He needs to be moved on at some point within the next year, and a new striker is required urgently.
It looks like Everton hitman Dominic Calvert-Lewin could well be that man, with Everton looking to sell the striker this summer.
He will be out of contract in the summer of 2025, so the Toffees are keen to avoid losing him on a free transfer next year.
The Hammers were first linked with a move to sign Calvert-Lewin back in the summer of 2022, when a £60 million transfer was mooted for the striker.
According to an exclusive report from Football Transfers, Lopetegui sees the 27-year-old Everton striker as the ‘ideal man to spearhead his attack’ next season.
I’m sorry but I just don’t believe this for a minute. Youssef En-Nesyri is on another level to the Toffees hitman, and it was only yesterday when it was being claimed that signing the Moroccan this summer is the West Ham manager’s chief priority.
Julen Lopetegui could be set to make big Dominic Calvert-Lewin mistake
Calvert-Lewin is certainly a top-class striker on his day, when he’s fully fit. However, I think we should avoid him like the plague.
Firstly, let’s look at his recent goal-scoring record. He bagged just eight goals in 38 outings last term, and only two in 18 the season before that.
That’s simply not good enough for a so-called top tier Premier League striker is it.
And secondly, he has missed an utterly ridiculous 410 days of action for Everton through injury since the start of the 2021/22 season.
The striker Julen Lopetegui brings to West Ham this summer has to not only be a proven goalscorer, but a physically robust player as well.
As mentioned earlier, I believe that En-Nesyri is the perfect player for the Hammers, and if Lopetegui can’t sign him then he should be targeting Dominic Solanke or Simon Banza.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin just cannot be relied upon from a fitness perspective, and West Ham shouldn’t be going anywhere near him as far as I’m concerned.
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