West Ham have revised their transfer plans and are urgently chasing attacking signings after further tests on Lucas Paquetá’s calf injury raised fears the midfielder will be sidelined for two months.
David Moyes has a selection crisis in attack, with Michail Antonio out for up to six weeks with a knee injury, Jarrod Bowen out for at least a fortnight with an ankle injury, Paquetá unavailable and Mohammed Kudus representing Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.
West Ham had been planning for a quiet January and were understood to be focusing mainly on signing a centre-back in the event of Nayef Aguerd leaving. But the latest update on Paquetá, who is seeing a specialist, will force them into the market for attacking additions. They are tracking the Ajax winger Steven Bergwijn and the Sunderland winger Jack Clarke and have a longstanding interest in the Paris Saint-Germain forward Hugo Ekitike. Sporting’s Marcus Edwards is another player of interest.
The most pressing issue, though, is that West Ham have been telling industry insiders they do not have much money available. They have spent heavily in recent windows and although they sold Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105m last summer they are close to their financial fair play limit.
Another issue is whether West Ham, who are sixth in the Premier League and in the last 16 of the Europa League, can bring in a player capable of making an immediate impact. Sunderland will not want to sell Clarke, who is vital to their promotion hopes, and the 23-year-old could find making the step up from the Championship difficult. Bergwijn disappointed at Tottenham before joining Ajax.
There will be pressure on Tim Steidten, West Ham’s technical director, to attack the toughest situation he has faced since joining the club last summer. There is not a lack of depth in attack. Instead the issue is that the players in reserve offer nowhere near the same quality as the favoured front three of Paquetá, Bowen and Kudus.
Moyes can choose from Saïd Benrahma, Maxwel Cornet, Danny Ings, Divin Mubama and Pablo Fornals. Benrahma, Ings and Fornals are up for sale. Any outgoings would bolster West Ham’s spending power.
