West Ham United received a huge boost in their pursuit of Ligue 1 striker Martin Braithwaite as the centre forward has reportedly confirmed his willingness to leave French side Toulouse in the summer. The Denmark international has earned rave reviews following his impactful performance in Ligue 1 last season emerging as a top target among certain Premier League clubs.
Speaking to his media native, he said, “The time to leave Toulouse has come… The Bundesliga and the Premier League are great leagues and interesting for me.”
West Ham experienced one of their worst seasons in the Premier League last term as the London side could only garner 45 points from 38 games, which led them to finish 11th in the league table. While the position is certainly a decent one, it was their performance that went haywire.
Following a brilliant season in the Premier League in the 2015-16 campaign, where the Hammers garnered 62 points finishing in the seventh position, the manager has taken few steps backwards. And it’s the wrong planning that was the crux of it. The Hammers failed to identify their next step and went for some of the highly-rated stars in the transfer market.
It was bound to be a disappointment and they could only manage some average buys. The biggest failure among them was Simone Zaza, the loanee from Juventus, who failed to make any sort of impact whatsoever in the London Stadium and left in winter. Andy Carroll could manage little owing to his injuries and as a result, West Ham could manage to score only 47 goals all season, as opposed to the previous one where they managed 65.
Improving the attack is definitely one of the top priorities for Slaven Bilic this summer and Braithwaite could be a quality addition to the side surely. The 25-year-old has scored 12 times last season and managed three assists in all competitions.
However, it won’t be easy at all as Premier League side Southampton are also keeping tabs on the player and Bundesliga side FC Koln are one of his prime suitors, who are reportedly lining up a bid for the player. An academy product of Danish side FC Midtjylland, Braithwaite played five years for Esbjerg fB before Toulouse recognised his talent.
He moved to Ligue 1 in 2013 and has played around 150 games so far, scoring 40 goals and assisting 13 times. He earned a national call-up back in 2013 itself but has managed just 13 caps so far. With FIFA 2018 World Cup next year, this season will be crucial for him.
