Andre Ayew is at the African Cup of Nations, Diafra Sakho is injured until March, Simone Zaza has left the club and Andy Carroll is, well, Andy Carroll. It’s evident the Hammers need to bring in another striker this month.
West Ham are said to be interested in signing Standard Liege striker Ishak Belfodil this month if his proposed move to fellow Premier League side Everton falls through.
The Liverpool Echo claimed that Everton had agreed a deal worth £10.5m with the Belgian club for Belfodil this month, but the deal was being delayed by ongoing negotiations between the Toffees and the player’s representatives.
Belgian news outlet La Derniere state that Ronald Koeman’s side are growing tired of the drawn out talks and are ready to pull the plug on the deal if progress is not made in the near future.
If Everton pull out of the deal, then West Ham could make a late move for the 25-year-old striker, but they face competition from Premier League rivals West Brom, Sunderland and Crystal Palace, along with Celta Vigo, Pescara, Olympiacos, Spartak Moscow and Al-Aïn.
Belfodil started out in French football in the youth ranks at Lyon before moving to Parma in a £3m deal in 2012. After one year, Inter Milan swooped for the Algerian striker and signed him for a reported £5m.
Having failed to impress with Inter, he joined Livorno on loan but failed to score in 17 appearances and he was sold back to Parma for £5m but, again, he failed to hit the ground running and was released in 2015.
He later moved to the UAE with Baniyas and joined Standard Liege on a free transfer in September 2016 where he’s found a rare purple patch of form in his career, scoring 10 goals in 21 games so far this season.
Belfodil hasn’t been a regular goalscorer in his career and you have to ask the question whether he’d be a smart investment.
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