West Ham have moved quickly to replace Marko Arnautovic, after agreeing a £45 million deal with Eintracht Frankfurt for striker Sebastian Haller, with the Bundesliga side confirming that he is on his way to London for a medical.
The 25-year-old had an exceptional season for the German side last season, scoring 15 goals and providing nine assists in just 23 starts in the Bundesliga, helping them to a seventh place finish in the league.
The French striker is a very different attacking option to the Hammers' only current senior striker Chicharito and should prove to be a quality addition to Manuel Pellegrini's squad next season.
But, how many goals will Haller score in 2019/20 for West Ham?
And, how good is he?
We used Football Manager 2019 to try and predict the future.
Sebastian Haller at West Ham
Current Ability: 143/200
Potential Ability: 148/200
Age: 25
Positions: ST/CAM
To find out how Haller could perform in his first season with West Ham, we used popular football management simulation game Football Manager 2019 to predict the future.
We used to editor to input the £45 million signing of Haller into the game and updated all the recent transfers, including the arrival of Pablo Fornals and the departure of Marko Arnautovic, using a fan made editor file.
For added realism, the database also has all the accurate promotions and relegations for the Premier League.
We then simulated the entire season to see how Haller would perform in his first season at West Ham.
Here's what happened.
Sebastian Haller's performance for West Ham in 2019/20
Haller had an impressive debut season with the Hammers, finishing as the club's top goalscorer with 11 goals in all competitions, including 10 in the Premier League. In terms of assists, Haller only managed one all season, as he became the focal point of Pellegrini's attack, rather than a providing forward, which is different to his role at Eintracht Frankfurt previously.
The French striker had the best shot accuracy of any Premier League player, with 55% of his shots being on target throughout the season, which is mightily impressive.
Sebastian Haller's key performances for West Ham in 2019/20
Arsenal 2-3 West Ham (3rd November 2019)
In an epic London Derby, Haller scored two, including one from the spot, to beat ten-man Arsenal at the Emirates.
West Ham 2-0 Chelsea (22nd December 2019)
Goals from Fornals and Haller sealed a 2-0 win against Frank Lampard's Chelsea just before Christmas, with the Frenchman making a habit out of scoring in London derby's.
West Ham 2-0 Brighton (30th March 2020)
In what was a tepid affair, Haller struck twice to seal a 2-0 win over Brighton in March, with the 25-year-old producing two moments of magic to seal what could have been a dour 0-0 draw.
West Ham 2-1 Watford (27th April 2020)
Another London derby, another goal and win for Haller and West Ham, with the former Auxerre striker opening the scoring.
West Ham's best XI with Sebastian Haller in 2019/20
West Ham's best XI features Haller in attack, flanked by Yarmolenko and Felipe Anderson, with new signing Pablo Fornals also in the side.
Interestingly, Declan Rice was preferred in defence, with Angelo Ogbonna being sold in the January window to Roma for £15 million, and Carlos Sanchez moving into midfield.
West Ham's results with Sebastian Haller in 2019/20
Overall, West Ham had an unspectacular Premier League campaign, finishing in 12th place.
Haller was a bright spark throughout the season, and with West Ham scoring only 41 times in 38 games, the 25-year-old scored almost a quarter of their Premier League goals.
Football Manager 2019 suggests that Haller will be a great signing for West Ham and will make an immediate impact, but more signings are needed if they are to improve their league finish.
