In a recent report, Football.London claimed that West Ham United are eyeing a move for Burnley defender James Tarkowski. It has been revealed that the Hammers have identified the English centre-back as a potential option for the January transfer window.
Tarkowski’s Difficult Campaign At Turf Moor So Far
Tarkowski is having a tough season with the Clarets as he has struggled to help them find consistency in the Premier League so far. The ex-Oldham Athletic talent has been involved in 15 matches for the Lancashire club during this campaign, netting one goal and grabbing two assists on all fronts.
However, the 29-year-old deserves a lot of credit for averaging 1.6 tackles, 1.6 interceptions and 5.1 clearances per game in the English top-flight. However, he has been a bit sloppy when distributing the ball from the back after making 68.1% of his attempted passes in league football (stats via whoscored).
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What Will Tarkowski Bring To West Ham United?
Tarkowski is a tough-tackling centre-back who is usually quick to sense the danger and can make some important interceptions on the defensive end of the field. He excels at clearing the danger when the opposition are on the front foot. The English defensive ace also doesn’t mind using his strong 1.85m frame to win a few 50-50 aerial duels for his side. However, he needs to work on improving his passing if he wants to be a success story at a club like West Ham.
The Hammers can definitely use someone of Tarkowski’s skill set as he will undoubtedly bring a lot of bite and steel to David Moyes‘ defence. The Manchester-born talent could even go on to form a solid defensive partnership with Craig Dawson and Issa Diop in the coming seasons. With both Kurt Zouma and Angelo Ogbonna currently sidelined due to injuries, West Ham need to recruit more numbers at the back if they intend to challenge for a top-four spot in the Premier League this season.
Thus, it makes sense for the East London outfit to engineer a move to bring the Burnley star to the London Stadium when the transfer window reopens at the start of next year.
