West Ham United have been hit by a glut of injuries to key players and Slaven Bilic has admitted he is in the market for another player ahead of the transfer deadline.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
The Hammers have been linked with a plethora of players this summer as Slaven Bilic reshapes his squad for their first season at the 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium.
The former Croatia manager will also have the Europa League to contend with should they come through a qualifying play-off against Romanian champions FC Astra on Thursday night.
Speculation has been rife for weeks that the Hammers wanted to make AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca their marquee striker signing.
Instead they bid what many fans feel is over the odds to sign Swansea City striker Andre Ayew for a club record £20.5 million.
He was promptly injured less than half an hour into his West Ham debut in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Monday night.
West Ham’s Andy Carroll is injured yet again
Hammers horror injury list
That was followed by yet another injury to Andy Carroll ahead of the victory over Bournemouth which leaves Bilic desperately short of firepower.
He has since admitted he is in the market for one ‘good’ signing ahead of the deadline, as reported by Sky Sports.
And according to speculation circulating since, it looks likely to be one of these three Irons he has in the fire.
Outcast: Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony
Wilfried Bony
West Ham have had a longstanding interest in out of favour Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony and are rekindling it according to Sky Sports.
David Sullivan revealed last year he regretted signing Carroll over Bony when the Hammers splashed a club record £18m on the big Geordie while Swansea City ended up signing the Ivory Coast forward instead – as reported by the Telegraph at the time.
Bony has been rarely used by City since making his own big money move from Wales to Manchester, scoring six goals in 36 appearances for the club.
But his goal record before that stands up to scrutiny with a record of a goal every other game and he would represent a major coup for Bilic given the Ivorian’s quality, the injury situation and the fact the window is set to slam shut next week.
Juventus’ Simone Zaza celebrates after scoring
Simone Zaza
Juventus and Italy striker Simone Zaza was expected to complete a move to German side Wolfsburg this summer but is now being linked yet again with a move to East London.
According to Football Italia, Zaza – who famously missed that bizarre penalty for Italy at Euro 2016 – is ‘seriously considering’ joining Bilic’s side before the deadline.
The player’s father confirmed Juventus won’t sell the player to another Italian club saying: “West Ham are a solution we’d appreciate and represent something more concrete. We’ll have to see what Juventus do and expect news soon.
“We are taking London into serious consideration as his next destination.”
The big striker would be a more agile and less injury prone replacement for Carroll who Bilic has admitted he can no longer rely on.
Chelsea’s Loic Remy
Loic Remy
Another player who has been on West Ham’s radar in the past and is surely a back-up plan should moves for Bony and Zaza fail to materialise.
Remy has not played much football in the last two years but has pace and an eye for goal as Newcastle fans will confirm.
The Frenchman could line up alongside fellow former Marseille stars Dimitri Payet and Andre Ayew if he joins the Hammers and according to the Evening Standard favours staying in London after being mooted as a makeweight in a potential Chelsea move to re-sign Romelu Lukaku.
Over the course of his career Remy has a solid record of better than a goal every three games although that was more like one in four at Chelsea where grabbed eight in 32 games, most of which were as sub.
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