Pundit thinks Everton will wish they had signed West Ham’s Danny Ings

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Former Premier League winner Martin Keown believes West Ham United’s gain is Everton’s loss as Danny Ings fires David Moyes’ side to a 4-0 hammering of Nottingham Forest, speaking to talkSPORT (27 February, 12.50am). 

This, it seems, is one of those rare transfers that appears to have worked out perfectly for everyone. Well, almost everyone.

Ings scored his first West Ham goal with 70 minutes on the clock on Saturday afternoon; breaking Nottingham Forest’s resistance at the London Stadium. Moments later, the England international doubled his tally with another close-range tap-in.  

As for Aston Villa, it’s fair to say Unai Emery’s side are not exactly missing him. Ollie Watkins, stepping into the number nine role in Ings’ absence, cannot stop scoring, netting for the fifth-straight Premier League game as Everton suffered their first home defeat of the Sean Dyche era. 

How the Toffees could do with a goalscorer as prodigious and instinctive as Ings. Or Watkins for that matter. Cash-strapped Everton, per the Daily Mail, could not match West Ham’s £12 million offer. Villa rejected their short-term loan bid, much to the chagrin of the soon-to-be-sacked Frank Lampard.

West Ham United beat Everton to Danny Ings deal

“(Moyes) brought Ings in. And how much Everton could do with him now,” says Keown, who spent four years on Merseyside before his Arsenal heyday.

“I think he is an important player. That was good business (from West Ham).”

It was Ings who hogged the headlines but the former Southampton talisman could not have done it all on his own. The January signing was set up brilliantly by an electrifying Jarrod Bowen and Said Benrahma against Forest, with Keown believing that Moyes finally struck a ‘perfect balance’ between pragmatism and purpose. 

“It is difficult. The fans are saying they want Benrahma to play (more often),” Keown adds. “(Lucas) Paqeuta is also in there.

“Moyes is trying to be creative and also be solid. And I think they got the perfect balance at the weekend. I do think West Ham will climb out (of relegation danger).

“It was a very good performance and certainty a great result.”