Here’s why West Ham need to join the race for highly rated 19-year-old striker

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West Ham United need to learn from their mistakes, and join Everton in the race for highly-rated League One teenager.

West Ham’s summer transfer business cannot be considered as anything other than a complete and utter failure.

Aside for Manuel Lanzini, who spent the 2015/16 campaign with the Hammers on loan, only three of their 11 signings had experience of playing in the Premier League – Andre Ayew, Ashley Fletcher and Alvaro Arbeloa.

As a consequence, the new arrivals have taken longer than expected to settle into the intense nature of English football, and West Ham subsequently find themselves in a precarious position in the Premier League table – just one point clear of the relegation zone in 17th position.

Simone Zaza has been a flop since his summer loan switch from Juventus

The Hammers’ woeful summer transfer activity must serve as a warning for the future, from the aspect of where they recruit their new players from.

Slaven Bilic should focus his sights on bringing in young English talent, if he gets another opportunity in the transfer window, and the ideal signing for both now and the future would be Charlton Athletic’s Ademola Lookman.

Everton are currently thought to be leading the race to sign the highly-rated 19-year-old, according to ESPN, but their is no shortage of potential suitors for the teenager.

Charlton Athletic’s Ademola Lookman in action

There are not many teams in the Premier League who are as desperately short in forward areas as West Ham, possibly with Hull City being the only exception.

Both from a quality and fitness perspective, the Hammers are severely lacking. Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho cannot be relied upon to play more than a couple of games without breaking down, whilst Simone Zaza and Andre Ayew just haven’t lived up to expectations since their arrivals in London.

The potential arrival of Lookman in January would give the club and their fans a much needed boost for the second half of the season, and the West Ham hierarchy should do everything within their power to ensure that it is at least a possibility.