Simon Jordan: Sebastien Haller was a sacrificial lamb at West Ham
Simon Jordan suggests Ajax centre-forward Sebastien Haller deserved more time to prove himself in the Premier League with West Ham.
Haller, 27, joined the Irons from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019 following a goal-laden 2018/19 campaign with the German outfit.
However, he failed to achieve the same success in east London, and he was offered an escape from his Irons misery by Ajax in January 2021, leaving the London Stadium on a permanent basis.
The Ivory Coast international has shone in Amsterdam since he made the move to the Dutch giants, and he is currently the top scorer in the Champions League with six goals in three games, one ahead of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah.
Speaking via talkSPORT on Wednesday [20/10/21], Jordan suggests West Ham may have been a little hasty letting Haller leave the club, but that it has worked out well for both parties in the end.
“I don’t think he did as badly at West Ham as people think he did,” Jordan said.
“I think he was a makeweight to make other transactions happen because I’m not sure he was a David Moyes signing. I think David looked at him and thought ‘I can do better’ or ‘I can supplement more if I take the Sebastien Haller money out of the equation and bring that in for Said Benrahma’, or whoever else that is.
“I’m not suggesting 10 goals out of 48 is particularly great but it’s also not particularly dreadful. He needed time to properly bed into that side and I think he was a sacrificial lamb for the change of direction.”
What could have been…
Had Haller been given the tools to succeed at the London Stadium, then the Irons may well have had a 15, 20-goal-a-season centre-forward.
He proved himself as a fearsome striker in the Bundesliga and Europa League, but never quite settled in the Premier League, despite some impressive strikes.
However, without him, Michail Antonio has shone under Moyes, showing himself to be the perfect centre-forward in the Scot’s system.
Haller, meanwhile, is proving himself on the elite stage, as well as the Eredivisie.
Should West Ham have held out for more money? Perhaps, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
It’s just one of those transfers that didn’t work out, but all parties are still thriving at present.
In other West Ham news, the Irons have made contact over this 16-cap centre-forward amid his contract impasse.
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