Slaven Bilic cancelled a deal for Aston Villa forward Scott Hogan in January.
Much has been made about West Ham United’s record with strikers over the years, but Slaven Bilic may have actually made a smart call over Aston Villa’s Scott Hogan.
West Ham seem to be targeting a new striker in every transfer window, and that desperation for a goalscorer has taken them to making some truly terrible signings in recent years.
The likes of Simone Zaza, Jonathan Calleri, Nikica Jelavic, Emmanuel Emenike, Marco Borriello and Mladen Petric are just some of the names who have signed for West Ham and left quickly, with 33 strikers signed in just over seven years.
Bilic does have Andy Carroll and Javier Hernandez at his disposal now, and whilst fans may still want more goalscoring threats, Bilic did actually make a smart call on a striker target during the January transfer window.
As reported by Sky Sports on deadline day back in January, Bilic decided to pull the plug on a deal to sign Scott Hogan from Brentford – and just hours later, he signed for Aston Villa in a £12million deal, possibly rising to £15million.
That would have been a considerable commitment for West Ham, as whilst Hogan had impressed in the Championship last season – scoring 14 goals in 25 games for the Bees – his injury record and lack of experience above the second tier would have been a gamble.
Instead, Villa paid the cash to sign Hogan, and they may feel that they haven’t had the return on their investment just yet, as Hogan has scored just once in 23 Championship games for Villa, failing to really show why Steve Bruce was so desperate to sign him.
Given that Hogan has struggled to play up front on his own – as West Ham often play under Bilic – he may not have been the ideal fit for the Hammers, and given that West Ham paid a similar fee to sign Hernandez from Bayer Leverkusen, Bilic will feel that he made the right decision in January.
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