Why a move for Abel Hernandez is a step backwards for West Ham
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As the season draws to a close, the transfer rumours suggesting moves from Premier League club to Premier League club are always going to increase, but West Ham fans should hope the latest rumour is just that.
Reports are linking the east London club with a move to bring Hull City’s Abel Hernandez to the Boleyn Ground, with a fee of around £8m being mooted.
But having secured the bargain signing of Diafra Sakho, and netting a relative success in Enner Valencia, a move for the Uruguayan would surely prove a step backwards for Sam Allardyce’s men.
Scoring just four times in 20 appearances for Hull, it’s probably too early to label the former Palermo man a flop, but he’s hardly set the world alight.
Many Hammers fans would agree that the money reported to be set aside for Hernandez could be far better spent elsewhere.
Splashing the cash to secure Carl Jenkinson and Alex Song on permanent deals after successful loan spells could be seen as a priority for the E13 outfit, and if not, first-team replacements for those two.
But the fact is that West Ham don’t have the best record when it comes to bringing in fellow Premier League club’s disposable strikers.
The likes of Mladen Petric and Marouanne Chamakh may have been frees and loan deals respectively in the 2012/13 season, but both flattered to deceive.
A paltry seven appearances between them yielded exactly zero goals in spells that frankly benefitted no one.
Even Andy Carroll’s signing that same season for a cool £15m hasn’t worked out great, with injury problems far outweighing the moments of magic from the big man.
Further back we can look at the arrival of Benni McCarthy at Upton Park in 2010.
The South African had gone off the boil after a couple of solid seasons at Blackburn, yet then-Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola was still happy to shell out £2.5m for his services.
But 14 appearances with no goals to show for it caused vice-chairman Karen Brady to label McCarthy a ‘big, fat mistake’, with the club paying the former Porto man £1.5 to tear up his contract a year early.
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