With rumours every day about who West Ham will sign as their marquee striker an unusual name cropped up recently, somewhat of an anomaly to the group. With the likes of Lacazette, Bacca, Icardi, Hal Robson-Kanu just doesn’t seem to fit… However, Robson-Kanu seems to be the latest player the Hammers are chasing.
Hal Robson-Kanu is interestingly a free agent, however, this shouldn’t be the case for very long. The 27-year-old has impressed many at Euro 2016 so far and could still play a part in the Welsh side. Kanu did not start the tournament, it seemed that manager Chris Coleman did not rate Kanu high enough.
However, as he saw his side drawing 1-1 with Slovakia in the first game he looked for inspiration and there of course he saw Kanu. With the knowledge that these 19 minutes (plus added time) could decide his fate, he had to do something and of course he did.
In the 81st minute, he gave Wales the lead and steered them to victory. He then also managed another goal in the quarter-final against Belgium where he seemed to easily fool three defenders.
So if all else fails will Robson-Kanu be good enough to succeed in the big time?
Background
Kanu started his footballing career at Arsenal at the age of ten. He stayed at the Gunner for five years, unfortunately, he was then released but luckily had a chat with Reading academy manager, Brendan Rodgers and he managed to secure a three-year deal in the academy.
At the age of 18, he signed a permanent two-year contract and was loaned out twice to both Southend and Swindon. When he returned in 2010 luckily for Kanu, the man who scouted him at a young age became the manager.
He was able to break into the first team and cement his place in the Reading side. Unfortunately, Kanu had a shaky season and he only managed three goals in 28 games, the club were not willing to offer him a new contract and that is how he is available for free today.
Style of play
Interestingly Kanu is the sort of player the Hammers are looking for. He is a 6 foot 1 striker-cum-winger who scores most of his goals from crosses. He would be a perfect target for Payet, Feghouli, Lanzini and Antonio to look for. He is also quite agile in the box and knows how to fool a player as we recently saw against the Belgians.
If he did sign for the Hammers effort is not something his role would require, he would just need to be in the right place at the right time to tuck the ball into the net.
However is he actually good enough?
I would love to say that Kanu could be West Ham’s main striker, however as many of you will know he simply just isn’t good enough. He’s never played in Europe and when he played in the Premier League he scored a measly seven goals (nowhere near 20!).
Kanu could be a good player for the F.A. Cup this season and against the weaker sides in the Europa League. He could be the perfect replacement for Enner Valencia and he would not cost us a penny.
