West Ham United may need a striker to complete their brilliant window, and would Daniel Sturridge be an upgrade? Yes, emphatically so.
West Ham United have had the perfect transfer window – well, nearly.
Manuel Pellegrini has broken the club’s transfer record twice on Issa Diop and then Felipe Anderson – two of eight excellent signings made by West Ham this summer.
Not only that, but the Chilean manager has also avoided big-name departures, with a 34-year-old James Collins – who turns 35 in four weeks – probably the most high-profile casualty.
All in all it’s been an excellent summer for the East Londoners, but it could be better if Pellegrini signs a striker and Daniel Sturridge would take their recruitment drive that bit closer to perfection.
The Liverpool striker has impressed Jurgen Klopp in pre-season but he isn’t going to displace Roberto Firmino in the German’s best XI anytime soon, which means that Sturridge – contracted until next summer – should consider leaving Merseyside.
No West Ham player has since equalled or surpassed Paolo Di Canio’s haul of 16 Premier League goals during the 1999-00 campaign – but Sturridge certainly has those numbers in his locker.
The 28-year-old, valued at £15 million by the Reds [Goal.com], hit 21 in the league when the Reds finished a point behind champions Manchester City in 2014. He had the likes of Steven Gerrard, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling providing him back then, but he would have Marko Arnautovic, Jack Wilshere and Andriy Yarmolenko at the London Stadium.
Andy Carroll’s three-month absence through injury leaves a lot of pressure on Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez in the goalscoring stakes. Arnautovic, United’s top goalscorer last season with 11 in the Premier League, will do a job, but Hernandez is yet to really establish himself as a prominent figure for the club.
Signing a striker wouldn’t go amiss and with Sturridge – a target of David Moyes and Slaven Bilic – potentially available, Pellegrini should certainly try and bring him in.
He has an injury record, naturally, but some gambles are worth taking and a fit-and-firing Sturridge is potentially West Ham’s best goalscorer.
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