West Ham wanted to sign “unplayable” star who’s outscoring Bowen by a mile

West Ham United spent around £120m within the 2023/24 season, bringing 5 everlasting signings to the membership, and one mortgage deal for Kalvin Phillips within the January window.

This was additionally the identical summer season Declan Rice was bought to Arsenal for £105m, giving the membership that conundrum to exchange his midfield output within the staff.

The Hammers’ largest signing of the summer season was Mohammed Kudus, signing from Ajax for a fee of around £38m. Since becoming a member of, the 24-year-old has made 55 appearances, scoring 16 objectives and offering seven assists.

However there was one signing that the Hammers did not make in the summertime of 2023/24 – one they have been closely linked with – and he is now outscoring each Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio mixed.

Bowen & Antonio’s kind this season

Thus far this season, Bowen is main the way in which for West Ham, scoring four goals and providing two assists in 13 games so far.

The Hammers captain scored 20 goals last term and their lack of objectives from a recognised striker has meant the membership rely extra on their large males for attacking output.

Antonio has solely bought one goal and one assist in his 12 appearances because the 34-year-old nonetheless struggles to offer constant output by means of the center, regardless of his arduous work and general influence on the staff. Final season, the Jamaican striker solely netted seven times in 32 games, far behind their star man in Bowen.

Sadly for the Irons, the person they missed out on final summer season not solely scored greater than Bowen and Antonio mixed in 2023/24 however can be outscoring them mixed in 2024/25 with knowledge analyst Ben Mattinson having labelled the “on fire” striker when analysing potential strikers for the membership.

The striker West Ham might have signed

Reports in June 2023 linked Viktor Gyokeres with a transfer to West Ham from Coventry, with senior officers allegedly getting into negotiations.

David Moyes gave the impression to be a giant fan of Gyokeres, and the Hammers might have made a transfer in that summer season.

One that got away

The transfers that just about occurred however by no means did. This text is a part of Soccer FanCast’s One That Bought Away sequence.

However fast-forward a tad and the 26-year-old made a transfer to Portuguese aspect, Sporting CP, for a price of around £20m, becoming Coventry’s record sale.

In his first season in Lisbon, Gyokeres greater than lived as much as his billing of an “unplayable” poacher – as dubbed by former teammate Maxime Biamou – scoring a whopping 43 objectives and offering 15 assists in 50 appearances, firing Sporting to the title.

Now in his second yr, the Sweden worldwide has began in the identical red-hot goalscoring kind, netting 23 times in 17 appearances, additionally offering 4 assists, totalling 1,436 minutes performed. That is greater than 3 times the output of Bowen and Antonio mixed on this marketing campaign.

The Swedish striker has an entire skillset, with the power to run the channels, carry the ball himself, hyperlink play and create for others, in addition to, in fact, ending possibilities at an exceptionally excessive ratio. Simply have a look at his hat-trick in opposition to Manchester Metropolis within the Champions League final week; it is very good stuff.

Gyokeres betters Antonio in all however one metric analysed above, with the 34-year-old finishing 0.15 extra progressive passes per 90, however if you put these stats aspect by aspect, you’ll be able to actually see how Gyokeres and Bowen would have complemented one another, and West Ham followers will surprise what might have been.

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