Perry Groves says he is ‘surprised’ West Ham United didn’t sign Viktor Gyokeres following his transfer from Championship side Coventry side to Portuguese giants, Sporting Lisbon.
The 25-year-old, who was previously on the books of Brighton and Hove Albion, helped Coventry City reach the Championship play-off finals last season by scoring 21 goals and supplying ten assists.
As a result, former Arsenal man Groves says, in West Ham’s need for a centre-forward, he would have ‘put in a bid’ for Viktor Gyokeres, especially given that he was sold for ‘£20 million’, as he told talkSPORT.
In this crazy and inflated transfer market, that’s a pretty good deal for Sporting Lisbon and for a player that is still fairly young and is improving each year.
Whilst West Ham have three strikers to pick from – Michail Antonio, Danny Ings and Gianluca Scamacca – the latter has struggled since moving to the London Stadium and could be sold this summer.
Whilst Antonio is 33 and needs replacing, and Ings only arrived in January from Aston Villa and didn’t really light up the place, that’s why Groves thinks the Hammers should have pushed for Gyokeres.
“I am surprised, West Ham desperately need a centre-forward, that they weren’t in for Viktor Gyokeres,” said Groves. “I think he went to Sporting Lisbon.
“I saw him play a couple of times. His work rate is good. I think sometimes, you need to go and be the main man, which he was at Coventry. You then get more belief in yourself. He led the line for Coventry. He scored loads of goals. And he could hold the ball up as well.
“I think he went for £20 million. That’s not a lot of money. I would have given him the chance. I would have put a bid in for him.”
Rice deal hasn’t helped West Ham
The issue for West Ham is that it took so long for Arsenal to complete their deal for Rice that they couldn’t go all guns blazing in bringing in new faces a lot earlier during the window.
No-one has come in yet, which should worry David Moyes because pre-season has already started and his squad is fairly thin.
Someone like Gyokeres would have been a top purchase at that price, but perhaps Moyes feels there are other areas that need to be sorted first, such as the midfield, before he can think about his goalscorer.
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