Dream for Bowen: West Ham make approach to sign “incredible” talent for £0

Fair to say, West Ham United supporters are not best pleased with their club’s transfer business so far this summer.

This is mainly due to the fact that star attacker Mohammed Kudus has been sold to fierce London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for a reported fee of £55m, the first player to make that controversial switch since Scott Parker in 2011.

In terms of arrivals, El Hadji Malick Diouf has joined from Slavia Prague for £19m, with Kyle Walker-Peters coming in on a free transfer from Southampton, both bolstering full-back options.

Nevertheless, even before Kudus’ departure, Graham Potter’s team lacked goals, thereby meaning additions will need to be made, so are the Irons closing in on a signing?

West Ham’s search for a number nine
As the table below outlines, trying to be a productive goal-scoring centre-forward at West Ham United has proved to be something of an enigma.

As the table outlines, aside from Michail Antonio, over the last decade or so, West Ham have signed umpteen strikers, none of whom have been a success to any sort of degree, paying huge fees for Gianluca Scamacca, Sébastien Haller and Niclas Füllkrug in particular in recent summers.

As they aim to be a bit more shrewd in the transfer market, Jack Rosser of The Sun is reporting that West Ham have made an approach to sign Callum Wilson, who is a free agent after leaving Newcastle,

Rosser states that the Hammers are “in talks” over potential move, while revealing that the striker has “long had admirers” at the club.

Wilson, now 33 years old, played just 458 minutes last season due to a back and then hamstring injury, with the Irons looking for a deal that would be “weighted towards appearances/goals”.

Despite this, West Ham aren’t the only club interested in the veteran centre-forward, with Mark Critchley and Laurie Whitwell of the Athletic reporting that Manchester United have been ‘offered the chance’ to snap him up too, but could Wilson soon be on his way to East London?

How Callum Wilson would improve West Ham
Despite the presence of Alexander Isak, Eddie Howe described Wilson’s importance to Newcastle as “incredible”, adding that his goal-scoring record while on Tyneside was “excellent”.

This was no more so the case than against West Ham, so signing him would first and foremost prevent the veteran from adding to his remarkable scoring spree against the Irons.

Wilson averages a goal against West Ham every 88.5 minutes, on target against them at four different venues: the Boleyn Ground, Dean Court, London Stadium and St James’ Park.

Lorihanna Balabanova of Total Football Analysis praises his ‘position and intelligence’ in the penalty area in front of goal, while the aforementioned Howe believes that his “goal-scoring ability” has always been his “biggest strength”.

Meantime, Chris Waugh of the Athletic is impressed by his ‘aggression and tactical nous’, believing his ‘experience and scoring acumen’ at Premier League level is invaluable.

Should he join West Ham, this could only benefit Jarrod Bowen, as it would allow the Hammers captain to exclusively be deployed on the right-wing, which is his best position, with Roshane Thomas of The Athletic documenting how, even when he is deployed as the lone centre-forward, Bowen tends to drift wide.

In 2023/24, for example, the Englishman scored 11 goals and registered six assists from just 20 games as a right-winger, while recording ‘just’ nine goals and four assists in 22 games as a striker, as per Transfermarkt. The need to have him deployed in his best role is certainly evident.

Jacob Steinberg of the Guardian adds that West Ham ‘have already wasted a lot of money’ in an attempt to ‘satisfy an obsession’ which is searching for the perfect centre-forward, something that has proved largely elusive.

Well, as a free agent, Wilson certainly wouldn’t prove expensive and would surely score goals, given his track record, with the added bonus of getting the best out of West Ham’s star player, Bowen.