There’s a certain feel-good factor growing surrounding West Ham’s first season at the Olympic Stadium. If not for Leicester City’s remarkable heroics, West Ham would have easily been the most surprising story of last season and Slaven Bilic, in his second season at the club, will be keen to build on their strong last season. The Hammers will be looking to kick-start their Olympic Stadium bow with a strong showing against Domzale tonight in the Europa League qualifiers. They have to overturn their 2-1 deficit from the first leg to make it to the Europa League or else the enthusiasm regarding their season would come to an abrupt end.
Even though West Ham have been quite active in the summer transfer window bringing in quality players like Feghouli, Nordtveit, Tore and so on, their search for an accomplished striker still goes on. Ashley Fletcher and Toni Martinez are hardly the players who are upgrades on their current set of attackers Valencia, Carroll and Sakho.
If reports are to be believed, West Ham have entered discussions with Aston Villa over the signature of Jordan Ayew with the hope to agree on a £8m deal for the 24-year-old. Jordan Ayew made his move to England with then Premier League club Aston Villa last summer who found themselves demoted to the Championship by the end of the season.
Ayew is far from a player who deserves to play for a Championship side but to be fair, he is not the player who would be a massive upgrade on the likes of Carroll, Sakho or Valencia. West Ham are in look for an assured 15-goal getter to spearhead their attack and Ayew does not fit the bill.
The Ghana international is not a traditional number nine. Ayew is blessed with a brilliant pace and likes to make movements across the final third in order to open up pockets of space behind the defenders. In his first Premier League season, Ayew scored just seven goals for Aston Villa from 30 games. Not the best figures but he still was the only bright spark for the Midlands club with each and every player underperforming around the Ghanaian.
If West Ham could sign someone in the same category as the likes of Bacca, Lacazette or Batshuayi, Jordan Ayew would have been a quality backup addition to the squad but he is far from the first-choice striker West Ham are in the need for.
