West Ham United transfer decision on Viktor Gyokeres shocks pundit as £20.5m striker eyed for January move
Carlton Palmer believes West Ham will be “kicking themselves” for not signing Viktor Gyokeres in the summer when “they had the chance”.
The pundit told Football League World on 3 December of his surprise that the Swedish international wasn’t brought into the Premier League when he left Coventry City for Sporting.
And with the striker potentially on the move again in January, after scoring 13 goals in Portugal across all competitions, former England international Palmer believes he is “surely worth a punt” at around €24million [£20.5m].
Palmer said: “Clubs are monitoring the situation with Gyokeres, who has shown fine form since his summer move to Sporting. The Swedish international has netted 13 goals in his last 16 appearances.
“I’m surprised that no Premier League club had a punt on him after back-to-back top seasons in the Championship scoring 17 goals and 21 goals.
“He’s very consistent and at €24 million he was surely worth a punt. However, Coventry are set to be the beneficiaries should he be sold, with up to 15 per cent profit on a future sale.
“Clubs like Everton and West Ham will be kicking themselves for not buying him when they had the chance.”
Second chance?
West Ham appeared to be well in the race to sign the 25-year-old forward before he headed to Portugal, with Fabrizio Romano reporting on 21 June that they were one of a handful of clubs “ready to push”.
Instead Sporting evidently came out on top to go against the trend of English top flight dominance in transfer races, but if he is open to another move already there is surely no reason why the Hammers can’t be a potential destination now.
The Irons wanted a striker right up to the transfer deadline in the summer window, and with Michail Antonio’s form dropping off after a fast start and then the Jamaica international ruled out by injury it is clear why.
With Gianluca Scamacca sold in the summer and Danny Ings not even deemed suitable to start in the absence on Antonio for the 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace on 3 December it has to be a priority to land a scorer as soon as possible.
It has probably proven a mistake not to spend on Gyokeres as he left Coventry since he has maintained his goal record in Portugal, and at £17.5m guaranteed with a potential total cost of £22.3m [Coventry Telegraph, 16 November] he wasn’t extortionate, even if not cheap for a player with one year left on his contract.
If his asking price is indeed still in the same ballpark and he is actually available in January West Ham should take it seriously.
In other West Ham news, David Moyes is “actively” chasing a new signing at another position and Tim Steidten has a favourite target.