West Ham Zone View: Forgotten Hammer deserves chance to shine
It seems pretty clear at this point that West Ham United’s club record signing of Sebastien Haller isn’t – or simply hasn’t – working out.
There’s undoubted talent in the Frenchman, no-one’s disputing that, but he just can’t seem to get going in a claret and blue shirt.
Some supporters will feel that he’s already a failure in east London, others will believe that he needs to be given more time.
However, it seems clear that the Hammers need to bring in another frontman to support/push Haller next season (provided they stay up, that is).
That’s where Jordan Hugill comes in; the forgotten man at the London Stadium. The 27-year-old, though, has been in much better form than Haller this season.
He’s been doing it in the Championship – on loan at Queens Park Rangers – rather than the Premier League, of course, but it’s clear from the success of James Maddison, Jack Grealish and Sheffield United that the gulf between those two divisions is not as large as it once was.
So the fact that Hugill has scored 12 goals in all competitions this campaign shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’s been an important player for Mark Warburton’s side, make no mistake about that.
The Englishman wouldn’t be a replacement for Haller, as such, but he’d be a different option the Hammers could plug in and play when the former Eintracht Frankfurt man is struggling.
It seems like everyone’s forgotten Hugill, but it’ll be interesting to see if the man who brought him to the London Stadium has.
David Moyes signed Hugill from Preston North End in January 2018, so he could well attempt to reintegrate the striker into the Irons’ first team squad ready for next season.
At the moment, though, the Hammers have no real back-up striker. Albian Ajeti has crashed and burned, while Michail Antonio is not a natural frontman.
So would it be the worst thing in the world to have Hugill in reserve? Absolutely not. The forgotten Hammer deserves a chance.
In other West Ham news, a respected journalist has claimed that the fans are ‘clamouring’ to see on Hammer get more game time.