West Ham United transfer update emerges on Divock Origi reports already
Sean Whetstone has immediately shut down any links between West Ham United and AC Milan striker Divock Origi on Monday 24 July.
Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport reported in its print edition [24 July, pg 8] that the Irons were set to sign the Belgian forward on a permanent deal, with the transfer allowing Gianluca Scamacca to complete his transfer to AS Roma, but Whitestone doesn’t believe this to be true.
Taking to Twitter to reply to a tweet from West Ham Transfers about the apparent deal being close, Whitestone replied only with a GIF which said “no chance”.
Whitestone is the editor of 6foot2, a West Ham United website and has close contacts with both Karen Brady and David Sullivan as well as having his own following of over 40,000 people on Twitter, so his rather blunt denial of the transfer would suggest any move for the Milan forward isn’t anywhere near close to completion.
The Irons have been looking to add to their strike force throughout the transfer window, especially with multiple suggestions that at least one of Michail Antonio, Scamacca or Danny Ings set to depart the London Stadium this summer.
The suggestion that the 28-year-old could be the player to fit the bill was met with a fair bit of uncertainty by a lot of the West Ham faithful, who were hoping for a more proven striker.
Dodging a bullet
While it is obvious that West Ham need a new striker through the door, it’s not particularly obvious that Origi should be top of their shopping list having had an incredibly ineffective campaign at the San Siro last term.
In 36 appearances across all competitions last season, the Belgian international only managed to score two goals, one every 593 minutes of action. Even Scamacca in limited time for the Irons last year managed to find the net eight times, once every 168 minutes.
Even in Orgi’s time at Liverpool, where he is remembered fondly for all-important goals against Barcelona, Everton and even in the Champions League final against Tottenham Hotspur, he wasn’t particularly prolific scoring 41 times in 175 appearances.
But David Moyes is struggling to bring in the targets that he wants this summer at the London Stadium despite the influx of cash having sold Declan Rice to Arsenal, so if options are becoming limited maybe a cheaper deal for Origi could be the way forward.
It won’t be the sort of deal that will provide the West Ham fans with much positivity ahead of another season in the Europa League, but Origi has been part of teams that have won both European and domestic titles.
For the right price, he could be a shrewd signing, but you’d have to imagine it would have to be alongside another forward incoming this window.
In other West Ham news, one of the Irons transfer targets this summer has suffered an injury scare in pre-season