Michail Antonio remains most important striker as West Ham United stat emerges
West Ham United’s repeated failures in the transfer market have been highlighted by Michail Antonio scoring a landmark goal for the club.
The Athletic shared on 7 October that with his first-minute opener against Ipswich Town on Saturday (5 October), Antonio’s Premier League tally for the Hammers now reads 68 goals.
Antonio, now the Irons’ leading outright Premier League goalscorer, has now scored the same number of league goals as the 13 strikers strikers brought in since his 2015 arrival – combined.
The Athletic described this, writing: “It’s a neat statistical coincidence, but it illustrates his powers of longevity, determination and adaptability, and is also an indictment of West Ham’s transfer policy.”
West Ham have failed to upgrade on Michail Antonio in nine years
The list of strikers brought to both Upton Park and the London Stadium since Antonio first signed in 2015 will make for grim reading among Hammers fans – with few hits, several misses and not many maybes.
How many, if any, of Nikica Jelavic, Simone Zaza, Ashley Fletcher, Jonathan Calleri, Andre Ayew, Jordan Hugill, Marko Arnautovic, Javier Hernandez, Lucas Perez, Sebastian Haller, Gianluca Scamacca, Danny Ings, or Niclas Fullkrug can be seen as successes?
The jury remains out on the latter duo, particularly Fullkrug, who has hardly had the chance to make an impact in East London since his £27million switch from Borussia Dortmund due to injury.
Fullkrug is yet to find the net in claret and blue, and while Ings popped up late to score a last-ditch equaliser for the Hammers against Fulham, he’s shown few signs of displacing Antonio either.
At 34 and having made a slow start to the season, Antonio’s time as the Irons’ shining light is coming to an end, but with all the competition also north of 30, that end looks set to come on his terms.
In other West Ham news, Julen Lopetegui could strike while the Iron is hot for one out-of-favour forward at a leading European club.
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