West Ham’s decision to sell Marko Arnautovic, in hindsight, was an easy one to make. The Austrian, whose attitude has been compared to that of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, had been keen on a London Stadium exit in January before penning a new deal a proclaiming his loyalty to the Hammers. Of course, it was all ploy to earn a short-term pay boost and push for a move away at the end of the season, which ultimately came to fruition last week as Arnautovic secured a transfer to Chinese Super League side Shanghai SIPG, where he will link up with the likes of Oscar and Hulk as Elkeson’s replacement, the Brazilian recently moving to Guangzhou Evergrande.
It was a bitter end to a relatively successful stint in the capital. In reaching double figures last season, Arnauotivc became only the fourth West Ham player in Premier League history to score 10 or more goals in back-to-back seasons. Now comes the task of replacing the 30-year-old and with injury prone Andy Carroll not offered a new contract, the Hammers are light on attacking options coming into the campaign.
Maxi Gomez was a top target in January, and again this summer, but the Uruguayan looks set to swap Celta Vigo for Valencia, which will no doubt leave head coach Manuel Pellegrini frustrated. What is a certainty though is that the board will back the Chilean in the market as they maintain their pursuit for a new striker and it’s widely expected the new frontman will be a club-record arrival.
Felipe Anderson holds that mantle following his big money capture from Lazio last summer, yet the Brazilian looks set to only keep it for 12 months, especially if reports of late are to be believed. West Ham’s push for a new forward has led them to Eintracht Frankfurt’s Sebastien Haller. While the Bundesliga side would be reluctant to cash in on the towering Frenchman following Luka Jovic’s big money move to Real Madrid, that in itself landing Eintracht a substantial financial windfall, Haller may perceive the Serb’s sale as a lack of intent and as a six-match winless run to end the campaign saw them drop out of the Champions League players, the 25-year-old could push for a summer exit.
While he missed a chunk of the campaign through injury, Haller still put up fine numbers of 15 goals and nine assists for Eintracht with his WhoScored rating (7.55) the fifth best in the Bundesliga last season, and that enough to feature in the seasonal best XI. Indeed, his departure would be a huge blow for Eintracht with their win ratio dropping from 47.8% to 36.4% and goals scored per game falling from 2.04 to 1.18 when he didn’t start in the Bundesliga last season.
Jovic may have been the player to attract the plaudits, with his goalscoring exploits not to be scoffed at, but Haller was arguably the more important of the two having impressed both in front of goal and in providing for teammates. His hold up play means he is the ideal striker to lead any attack and in a West Ham setup that favours a lone frontman to carry out duties of scoring and providing, Haller has the physical standing to thrive in England. “A bulldozer couldn’t knock him over,” former Eintracht Frankfurt boss Niko Kovac raved of the forward as Haller maximises his 6’3” frame to dominate defences both on and off the ball.
Haller won more aerial duels (201) than any other player in Germany’s top tier last term, this coming despite starting just 23 league matches, to reinforce a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of ‘aerial duels’. Pellegrini’s favoured formation last season was a 4-1-4-1 and with adept runners from deep and the wideman tasked with stretching opponents, depending on which flank they start on of course, having a focal point as rounded as Haller would render West Ham a daunting proposition going forward.
It’s his physical qualities that would offer another dimension to West Ham’s attack with Haller comfortable with the ball to feet or the ball in the air. If needs must, it would allow Pellegrini to tinker his tactics to a more direct style and increase the possibility of introducing a second striker to play alongside Haller in a possible little and large strike duo, though that is dependent on Chicharito’s future at the club. With Haller boasting a style of play of ‘likes to do flick ons’ runners in behind would benefit from his power in the air and provided West Ham can retain the Mexican’s services beyond the close of the window next month, he’d be the ideal partner for the Hammers’ striking target, who having regularly played alongside Jovic in a two-man strike force for Eintracht last season, wouldn’t be out of his depth in either system.
Notable summer arrival Pablo Fornals would also profit tremendously from a frontman of Haller’s standing and skillset leading the line. West Ham’s first big name signing in the window showcased his talent as Spain secured Euro U21 glory last month with the 23-year-old’s WhoScored rating (7.62) ranking among the top 10 players at the competition. Crucially is that no player created more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities than Fornals (3) at the tournament, while Haller netted 14 clear-cut goalscoring chances in the Bundesliga last term, that the third best return.
Haller not only boasts the positional awareness to manoeuvre into great goalscoring positions, but the finishing ability to tuck these opportunities away as he returned a respectable clear-cut conversion rate of 58.3% in the Bundesliga last season. West Ham have endured rotten luck in their striker pursuits in the past, but they’d be on to a winner with Haller. By beating any competitors to his signature, it would be a massive signal of intent for the Hammers as they look to build on a respectable debut campaign under Pellegrini and make a sustained push to close the gap between themselves and ‘best-of-the-rest’ Wolves.
