Huddersfield Town’s Steve Mounie should be David Wagner’s priority if West Ham move happens

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Huddersfield Town’s influential boss David Wagner is one of the names on West Ham’s shortlist to replace Slaven Bilic.

If Slaven Bilic was under pressure from West Ham fans before Saturday’s London derby with Tottenham Hotspur, the ensuing result, not to mention performance, will not have bought the Croatian any more support.

A committed late flurry once Serge Aurier had been shown a second yellow card, in which West Ham turned a three goal deficit into a 3-2 scoreline, should not overshadow the fact that they were simply hapless in the first 65 minutes in front of their own supporters.

Therefore, reports in The Sun that West Ham will axe Bilic if results do not improve soon should not come as a surprise. Neither should some of the names on the shortlist to replace him with two former Borussia Dortmund men, Thomas Tuchel and David Wagner, among the names.

And Huddersfield Town boss Wagner’s ability to get the best out of his resources and make a team far greater than the sum of its parts is perhaps the most clear reason why the 45-year-old deserves to be on the shortlist just six games into his Premier League career.

And, who knows, perhaps he could bring someone with him who West Ham wanted in the summer. The Mirror reported that The Hammers were in the race to sign Steve Mounie after an excellent season in Ligue 1 with Montpellier.

In the end, however, Huddersfield splashed out a club-record £11.5 million to get their man (The Mirror) and, while it is unlikely that The Terriers would sell even if Wagner left, the striker is the sort of player who West Ham could do with – even if they would have to wait until January to bring him to London.

The 6ft 2ins Mounie is a real targetman who, despite scoring just twice in the Premier League so far, looks a good fit for English football and could offer West Ham that presence their attack needs in the frequent occasions when Andy Carroll is not fit the lead the line.

Hiring Wagner, however, should be their first priority.