If West Ham are to splash £30m on one player this summer, then there’s only one name that should sit atop their list…
What’s the word?
The Irons have been linked to many names ahead of the summer transfer window, including a few from the Championship.
One of which is Norwich City right-back Max Aarons, with the Independent suggesting that they have joined the race to sign the 21-year-old, who is valued at £30m.
Another name is Brentford talisman Ivan Toney, who is also thought to have a similar price tag slapped on him, according to TEAMtalk.
Finances will be at a premium at the end of the season, with many top-flight teams still dealing with the financial consequences of the pandemic and not having any supporters through the door, so if the Hammers are to fork out a fee as big as that, then Toney must be the man to spend it on, every day of the week.
Forget Aarons
It seems perplexing that West Ham would join the race for Aarons, who has been coveted by the likes of Spurs, Everton and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
You wouldn’t say David Moyes is blessed with options on the right-hand side of defence but you would certainly believe he’s more than covered with impressive signing Vladimir Coufal, Ryan Fredericks and academy starlet Ben Johnson.
The same can’t be said for upfront.
After selling club-record flop Sebastien Haller after just 18 months in East London, David Sullivan and co failed to land Moyes a replacement striker, leaving Michail Antonio as his only senior option for the rest of the season.
And he’s now out injured – potentially for the remainder of the campaign, too.
That is now looking like a catastrophic miscalculation from the Irons’ hierarchy and is something that absolutely has to be corrected ahead of next season.
Even though Antonio is a valuable source of goals for Moyes, the 31-year-old has only ever played more than 22 league games in one season across the course of his career since 2013.
Toney’s record, on the other hand, speaks for itself.
The prolific 25-year-old marksman secured a move to Brentford in the summer following a 26-goal season for League One outfit Peterborough United and has since taken to the step-up in levels like a duck to water.
Posh chairman Barry Fry recently dubbed Toney a “sensation” to Football FanCast in an exclusive interview.
He’s provided a whopping 29 goals and ten assists in 43 appearances this term, as per Transfermarkt.
Toney has likened himself to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the past – speaking to The Sun, he claimed: “I’ve always liked Zlatan. I just love his confidence. Some people see it as arrogance but you must be like that to succeed. I’m similar to Zlatan in both my confidence and the way I play. When he wants to do something, he just does it. I have some of that in my game and personality. And I believe I’ll be a Premier League striker.”
Clearly, the striker exudes confidence and that can often be an underrated attribute of any player.
Bees boss Thomas Frank has even compared Toney to Spurs’ Harry Kane, due to his absurd goalscoring returns, and hailed him as a “special, special player.”
Whether he’s another Zlatan or another Kane, Sullivan and co absolutely must approve that £30m swoop this summer.
There’s no doubt about it.
AND in other news, Imagine him and Rice: West Ham eye ‘magnificent” £25m colossus…