WHZ Stats: Kalajdzic shines for Austria and Stuttgart after West Ham transfer link
It’s no secret that West Ham and David Moyes will be in the market for a new striker when the summer transfer window opens.
The Hammers have been linked with Brentford’s Ivan Toney [The Sun] and Blackburn’s Adam Armstrong [Daily Mail] and we’ve had some great success singing from the Championship with Jarrod Bowen being a prime example.
But what if we were to look overseas again? The Daily Mail reported earlier this month that we’re linked with Sasa Kalajdzic of Stuttgart. West Ham Zone decided to take a deeper look into his potential and to see if he could fit the Moyes system.
Another big man
Kalajdzic towers over our current striking options. The 23-year-old Austrian is 6ft 5ins tall – he’d be a right handful for the Premier League defences.
The striker was phenomenal for his country on Thursday evening. Austria drew 2-2 with Scotland in their opening World Cup qualifier. He scored twice in what was just his third cap, the first a tap-in and the second an excellent header.
Austria’s number 14 demonstrated some excellent link-up play. He showed that he’s comfortable to drop deep and get on the ball if he’s isolated up top, and is more than happy to press high – this is something Moyes would love.
He has an impressive record this season in Germany. He’s played 28 matches in the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal, scoring 14 goals and assisting three. As of late, he’s in a rich run of form, seven goals in his last seven appearances.
In the German top-tier, Stuttgart would be 10 points worse off without his goal involvements. Currently, they’re comfortably sitting in ninth, but would be 13th and six points above the drop without him.
As things stand, Kalajdzic is the sixth-highest goalscorer in the league. He’s also sixth for most combined goal and assists. The number nine is proving himself to be clinical in front of goal, 47.73% of his attempts his the target – ranking him ninth in the Bundesliga [WyScout].
He could well fit into the philosophy Moyes has cared out at West Ham this season. We are very successful with set-plays, and it appears so is the big Austrian. He’s had the third most headed attempts on goal in the top-flight, and averages 4.84 touches per 90 minutes in the penalty area.
Kalajdzic appears to tick all the boxes for Moyes. A grafter who is clinical in front of goal, and is happy to be involved in the build-up play. He is said to be available for around £15million – maybe this is something West Ham should explore a bit further.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers ‘don’t have the minerals’ for the top four, according to this talkSPORT pundit.