David Moyes could make critical Michail Antonio decision as West Ham United transfer news emerge
West Ham United manager David Moyes could be forced into a critical decision on Michail Antonio after his recent form and two names in Santiago Gimenez and Armando Broja have emerged as potential January replacements.
Clinical finishing has certainly become West Ham’s downfall for a long while now, especially against the big teams and after Moyes’ failure to acquire a striker over the summer window after sanctioning Gianluca Scamacca’s exit, it’s an issue that could well become a stick to beat the former Manchester United manager with.
One factor that has ultimately led to West Ham’s drop in scoring form and consistency in front of goal, despite tough games against Manchester City and Liverpool in their last two games, is Antonio’s form.
The Jamaican international’s impressive start to the season has taken a dramatic nosedive with his latest blank in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool now his fourth game without scoring and it’s now just two goals in his last seven in all competitions [SofaScore].
In fact, his overall performance against Jurgen Klopp’s Reds left so much to be desired in a clinical and ruthless number nine.
Antonio, picked up a woeful expected goals (xG) tally of 0.12, recorded just 24 touches, successfully completed just 63% of his passes, won just four of his 16 total duels at a dreadful rate of 25%, failed to register a shot on target, failed to record a single key pass [SofaScore] and missed a clear cut chance which will have provided Moyes with some much-needed impetus at a crucial spell.
Certainly, the Hammers added the qualities of Mohammed Kudus to help out with the goals but the Ghanian international needs time to acclimatise himself to his new surroundings which means West Ham United will need goals from all areas of the pitch to tide them over until January at least.
And two names in Gimenez and Broja who have been linked with West Ham United have appeared over the last 48 hours leaving Moyes with a critical decision in January.
As reported by 90min [25 September], West Ham tried to sign Mexico international Gimenez before the window closed while they also had a last-ditch approach for Broja rejected [Fabrizio Romano, 25 September].
It would have been an excellent piece of business had West Ham managed to bring Broja to the London Stadium this summer, after all, he showed during his time on loan with Southampton he is capable of being an incredibly impactful striker in the Premier League.
But given the financial power of Chelsea currently, it would have been an incredibly expensive deal to pull off for the Irons and as soon as it was decided he’d remain at Stamford Bridge, it was unlikely Moyes or anyone would be able to change Todd Boehly or Mauricio Pochettino’s mind.
However, it won’t be beyond West Ham United’s purview to make an ambitious attempt for the Chelsea forward or Feyenoord’s Santiago Gimenez, who has enjoyed a sensational start to the campaign with eight goals and two assists from six Dutch Eredivisie games already [SofaScore], marking him out as one of Europe’s deadliest strikers.
If the Hammers are to go above and beyond their European achievements from last season, both at domestic level and on the European stage, they desperately need a potent and ruthless finisher – a certain upgrade on a goal-shy Antonio.
Broja and Gimenez, represent stellar names certainly and players which Moyes must take the critical decision to pursue in the January window.
In other West Ham news, the Hammers’ next Premier League opponents have reportedly made a decision over the future of their manager.