Over the course of the 2019 summer transfer window, West Ham United had three strikers in their ranks. Marko Arnautovic left the club halfway through the campaign in January, but with Javier Hernandez, Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll all leaving, is it any shock the Irons are now struggling?
The Hammers have gone from having four strikers throughout a Premier League season to having just two in the current campaign, and with one of those strikers being Albian Ajeti, who neither Manuel Pellegrini or David Moyes have fancied, there are obvious problems.
Last season, Andy Carroll failed to score a Premier League goal, yet Hernandez, Perez and Arnautovic bagged 20 between them (Transfermarkt), and that made up for just under half of the club’s 52 goals in the domestic league season, something that hasn’t been the case this time around.
This season, Haller has bagged himself six goals in the Premier League but considering he’s the only striker at the club to have scored in the league this season, his goals make up only a fifth of the 30 Premier League strikes that this squad has mustered.
With the forwards not firing that has left the burden on the likes of Robert Snodgrass, Mark Noble and Andriy Yarmolenkp, who have managed 12 goals between them. That tally is certainly respectable from the Hammers’ supporting cast, but considering they don’t have goalscoring forwards, problems have emerged.
The fact of the matter is that the business when it comes to signing forwards for West Ham are firmly rooted, and the sooner that the club get their act together and fill out the striker department the better if the Hammers want to have a long-term future in the Premier League.