By Anthony Onifade

17th May, 2023 | 10:40am

West Ham United should jump at Michail Antonio 2.0 in Sheraldo Becker as £13m transfer news emerges

Union Berlin striker Sheraldo Becker is open to a Premier League move this summer with West Ham United interested in potentially bringing him as Michail Antonio’s replacement.

The Hammers enquired into the 28-year-old’s services on January transfer deadline day, but a deal never materialised with the Bundesliga outfit intent on keeping him for the rest of the campaign. [Florian Plettenberg, 31 January]

Becker has undergone a thrilling 2022/23 campaign in the German top flight, scoring 11 goals and registering seven assists from 32 appearances and the Daily Mail reported on 15 May that the capital club were braced for offers.

And according to Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg, taking to his personal Twitter account to report the news [16 May], Union Berlin will be demanding a price in the region of €15-20m [£13m-£17.4m] to sell him this summer.

He tweeted: “Many clubs from the Premier League are pushing to sign him! West Ham, Fulham and Burnley are in. Price valuation of around €15-20m. The 28 y/o striker from Union Berlin is open for a move to England.”

With West Ham United having all but confirmed their Premier League status for next season, there is a desperate need to shake things up during the summer transfer window to ensure the club is battling amongst the European places once again.

And one of the priority positions the Hammers will be looking at is at centre-forward and they won’t be short on funds too should club captain and star player Declan Rice complete his touted £100m+ move elsewhere.

However, that shouldn’t give West Ham United a license to spend the money unnecessarily, and whoever comes in to potentially replace David Moyes should he depart at the end of the season would be advised to look at potential bargains and Becker represents an ideal candidate, given his reported £13m-plus price tag.

Antonio looks set to leave the London Stadium this season, which means the club will be heavily in the market for a forward and Becker is built in a similar mould to the Jamaican international who is just five years his senior.

With 11 goals and seven assists in the league, the Suriname speedster actually ranks in the top 9% for assists per 90 when compared with other forwards across Europe.

Possessing thrilling pace and excellent dribbling qualities when driving his team up the pitch, in a similar style to Antonio, Becker also impressively ranks in the 99th percentile of forwards for progressive carries per 90, the 96th percentile for carries into the final third and also carries into the penalty area [FBRef], even ranking higher than Antonio for such metrics.

As well as possessing the unique qualities to score and create goals, Becker holds similar attributes in that he is incredibly quick, agile, strong and a terrific workhorse off the ball suggesting that the West Ham United faithful certainly won’t miss Antonio too much too soon.

It’s unclear what kind of style and philosophy the West Ham United board will be searching for in their next managerial candidate for next season, but given the Hammers’ historic penchant for swift counter-attacking football, they certainly won’t be too far from those tactical demands whoever they go for and seeing as their Jamaican hero is calling time at the club, West Ham should already be looking at his perfect replacement – a striker fans could call their Antonio 2.0