West Ham United have reportedly failed with a move for Koln striker Anthony Modeste.
West Ham United’s search for a new striker has taken them to Germany, with The Mirror claiming that a bid for Koln’s Anthony Modeste has been rejected.
Modeste, 29, may be familiar to some fans for having endured a fruitless loan spell with Blackburn Rovers in 2012, where he failed to score in nine appearances.
Koln’s Anthony Modeste
The French attacker left Bordeaux for Hoffenheim in 2013, and after 23 goals in 62 games, he has excelled following a 2015 switch to Bundesliga rivals Koln.
Last term, Modeste hit 27 goals in all competitions to take German football by storm – and that has unsurprisingly attracted interest from West Ham, who are desperate for a new striker.
The Hammers must sign a proven goalscorer this summer having failed on that front last summer, and Modeste – a big, powerful striker who scored almost 30 times last term – fits the bill.
However, The Mirror note that Koln want around £40million for their star striker, and Slaven Bilic should be pulling the plug on the pursuit and backing away from that price, which is almost twice the club’s transfer record.
Anthony Modeste
Modeste will be 30 by the end of next season, and it’s questionable just how many years he still has at the peak of his powers, meaning a £40million, club-record-shattering bid from West Ham would be ill-advised.
It seems unlikely that West Ham would spend £40million on a striker anyway, but if they were going to, then it shouldn’t be on Modeste, whose age and anomalistic goalscoring record have come so late in his career that the Hammers should focus on younger strikers such as Kelechi Iheanacho or Michy Batshuayi instead.
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