West Ham United are facing something of a striker crisis and could face having to beg for Enner Valencia back from Everton.
With Andre Ayew off to the African Nations with Ghana, flops Jonathan Calleri, Gokhan Tore and Simone Zaza set to have their season-long loans cancelled and Diafra Sakho out until March, it leaves Slaven Bilic relying heavily on injury-prone striker Andy Carroll and raw youngster Ashley Fletcher.
Co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have already pledged to add ‘quality reinforcements’ to the Hammers squad this month.
Speculation linking the club with the likes of Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe and Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge has fallen flat with the managers of both clubs insisting neither player will be sold.
Everton’s Enner Valencia celebrates scoring against Southampton
Should West Ham fail to attract the calibre of striker they need, Bilic could be left with little alternative than to go cap in hand to Ronald Koeman and Enner Valencia to facilitate the return of the Ecuadorian to East London.
Valencia was loaned out to the Toffees at the 11th hour of the summer transfer deadline after Koeman’s failure to land Moussa Sissoko from Newcastle.
Hammers fans took a great deal of pleasure in the furious reaction of Toffees fans at the signing of Valencia who has failed to impress since his £12 million move to England in 2015.
Indeed those supporters looked to have been proved right with the South American very much on the fringes under Koeman this season.
West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic
But some impressive cameos recently culminated in Valencia changing the face of Everton’s game against Southampton which appeared to be drifting towards a dull goalless draw.
Introduced just after the hour Valencia scored the opening goal, won a penalty for the second and had a hand in the third as the Toffees ran out 3-0 winners.
Should Bilic look to get Valencia back – all three parties would have to agree.
Everton manager Ronald Koeman
Having featured less than he had at West Ham, Valencia would likely want to move back to London where he would undoubtedly get more game time at the moment.
But after singing his player’s praises following the win over the Saints, persuading Koeman to sanction the termination of the loan may prove the biggest stumbling block.
“He can play a lot of different attacking positions and give the manager a lot of possibilities to change systems,” Koeman told the press after the game, as reported by talkSPORT.
“It is too early to make a final decision about his future but it was a good signing for us.”
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