West Ham United coach David Moyes has named Said Benrahma as part of the reason why he has now signed Danny Ings. The striker completed a transfer from Aston Villa on Friday.
The Hammers paid the Villans an initial £12m, rising by £3m with add-ons, for Ings. He has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract at the London Stadium after just 18 months with the Birmingham outfit. They paid Southampton £25m, rising to £30m, for the forward in 2021.
Unai Emery let Ings join West Ham having started the 30-year-old in one of his six Premier League fixtures in charge. The Spaniard replaced Steven Gerrard at the helm in November and favoured Ollie Watkins at striker. Even though Ings offered three goals in six matches.
Ings bagged just 13 goals and six assists over 48 top-flight games at Villa Park following his move from Southampton. Six of his strikes came this season having also scored once under Gerrard before his sacking in October. He also scored two under interim boss Aaron Danks.
The 30-year-old now has competition from Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio in east London. Scamacca and Benrahma are the joint-top scorers at West Ham in Premier League games this season. The Italian striker and Algerian winger have each hit three goals so far.
Moyes names Benrahma to justify ‘why’ West Ham sought Ings’ transfer
West Ham boss Moyes has now cited Benrahma as part of the reason why he sought Ings’ transfer from Aston Villa. While the 27-year-old has scored three goals, he has only laid on one assist. Declan Rice and Lucas Paqueta have the Irons’ most assists with just two so far.
Per WhoScored, Aaron Cresswell has also played the largest total of key passes in the top-flight with 30. The left-back leads Jarrod Bowen (26), Rice (24), Benrahma (22), Scamacca, Paqueta, Vladimir Coufal (13), Pablo Fornals (11), Antonio and Tomas Soucek’s (8) efforts.
Given the struggles of West Ham’s forwards to create sustained chances, Moyes felt he had to secure Ings’ transfer from Aston Villa. He also notes that Benrahma, who left Brentford for £20m, rising by £5m with add-ons after a £5m loan deal in 2020, has been their best option.
Moyes stated, via quotes by football.london: “He’s probably been the best of our attacking players but we’ve not had many at this time. Creating and making and scoring chances has been a problem for us. That’s why we bought in Danny Ings.”
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