West Ham’s striker obsession remains unresolved after years of failure | Jacob Steinberg
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Graham Potter must quickly get to grips with the club’s failure to sign the right centre-forward over the past 15 years. West Ham rarely hit the target when they buy a striker. Names such as Mido, Ilan, Benni McCarthy, Jonathan Calleri and Simone Zaza will send a shiver down the spine of Hammers supporters, who must despair at the same old mistakes being made over and over again.
![[Danny Ings.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/382e9689437c76f58808ec30cdc7a70aeda7446c/0_68_1936_1162/master/1936.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
This has been a constant theme since David Sullivan and the late David Gold bought the club in January 2010. The 15-year anniversary arrives on Sunday and the numbers have not improved in the eight years since I first wrote about West Ham’s striking failure, detailing how the 32 forwards bought during Sullivan and Gold’s ownership at that point had mustered 128 goals in 643 appearances.
Of course, as Arsenal are finding, landing the right goalscorer is a difficult and costly business. Why, though, do West Ham keep misfiring? The number of strikers signed is up to 40, with a return of 192 goals in 970 appearances. Niclas Füllkrug, the latest in a long line of underwhelming buys, has just been ruled out for three months with a hamstring injury sustained during last Friday’s defeat away to Aston Villa in the FA Cup. For Graham Potter, whose only fit striker for Tuesday evening’s home game against Fulham is Danny Ings (a panic buy at £12m in January 2023, five goals in 64 appearances since then), getting to grips with the foot-shooting nature of the West Ham way is one of his most pressing priorities.
