After Niclas Fullkrug went down with an injury that will cost him three more months, West Ham are reeling at the striker position, and with the injuries they have suffered in the attack this season, it’s been a huge impediment to any sort of momentum.
Already, West Ham had to fire new manager Julen Lopetegui amidst a 14th-placed start to the 2024/25 Premier League season, and they want to make sure new coach Graham Potter at least has some attacking ammunition to get started off on the right foot with his tactical ideas.
Therefore, West Ham are pushing hard to sign a striker in the January 2025 transfer window, and after a silly bid for Jhon Duran that was always going to be laughed out the building, the Hammers are looking at a more achievable target.
According to a report from talkSPORT, West Ham are interested in signing Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi, though he could only be sold by the surprise Champions League contenders if they were to find his replacement.
Awoniyi joined Forest in 2022 after bursting out onto the scene for underdog side Union Berlin in the Bundesliga, where he scored 15 goals. After scoring 10 goals in his first campaign with Forest, Awoniyi has been saddled by injuries and is now a backup, clearly pipped by Chris Wood at the position.
So while Awoniyi is a physically imposing player with legitimate quality and could be a reasonable transfer target for West Ham in a theoretical world, he looks like a giant waste of money for the Hammers if Forest were to even be interested in selling their main backup.
That’s because West Ham need a striker who they can trust to be available. They can’t do that with Awoniyi due to his injury history. West Ham already have talented strikers like Fullkrug who have trouble getting healthy, and Fullkrug was better more recently – in the Bundesliga, too, no less.
Awoniyi has more of a chance of joining West Ham than Duran, but he’s such a flawed target that a loan bid for an injured Evan Ferguson would still make more sense. After all, Awoniyi has missed nearly 50 games with injury since 2023.
