West Ham surely ruing not signing Chris Wood following Burnley draw

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West Ham United were linked with a move for Chris Wood in the summer, before he ultimately made the move to Burnley.

Back in May, the Daily Mirror reported that West Ham were leading the race to sign Chris Wood following his fantastic season in the Championship with Leeds.

Ultimately, Wood would move to the Premier League, but it was Burnley who would win the race, with BBC Sport reporting that the Clarets paid £15 million for the New Zealander.

Although the Hammers’ start to the season has not been perfect by any means, it was perhaps their draw with Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday that exemplified why it must be deemed that West Ham made a significant mistake not capitalising on their position in the race earlier in the year.

Of course, Wood was the man to bag the late equaliser for the home side to deny Slaven Bilic’s men the three points. And as it came in a game where only one Irons forward overshadowed the Burnley summer signing – and not for a good reason – the West Ham fans would certainly be forgiven for being frustrated.

Andy Carroll was sent off for two yellows in quick succession during the first-half to attract a huge amount of criticism from the fans, while Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic made little impact on the game.

Had Carroll been prolific in the weeks leading up to the Burnley game, he probably would have been forgiven for the dismissal, but he is still awaiting his first goal of the season, and given his injury record, Bilic surely has little reason to feel that he can rely on him.

The problem is that West Ham’s other forwards are not giving Bilic a good enough reason to give up on Carroll. Hernandez – their top goalscorer with three goals – has not scored in a game where the Irons have gone on to take any points and has just one goal in his last six in the top flight.

Meanwhile, Arnautovic is yet to score or contribute an assist since arriving in a club-record deal, and offered little against the Clarets before he was replaced at half-time.

And with the Guardian reporting that he could cost £10 million more than Burnley spent on Wood, West Ham fans would have undoubtedly been forgiven for coming away from Turf Moor wondering why spending £15 million on Wood – rather than signing the strikers they did add and keep hold of – seemed an option that was not worth pursuing.