OPINION
What was David Moyes thinking when he spent £10million on bringing Jordan Hugill to West Ham in January?
The 26-year-old made just three appearances across all competitions for the Hammers, costing the London club a whopping £3.3million-per-appearance during his time at the London Stadium.
Middlesbrough took the chance to welcome Hugill back to the Championship in the summer when they signed the target man on a season-long loan.
Claret & Hugh reports that Boro have first refusal on signing Hugill permanently at the end of his temporary deal, and West Ham must pray that the Teessiders see it fit to sign the striker just so they can get him off their payroll and have this ugly spell behind them.
Unfortunately, it will take a lot for the woeful striker to impress Tony Pulis enough to splash the cash on him next year because at the moment, the ex-Preston forward has scored just one goal in eight appearances for Boro – and that came against Rochdale in the Carabao Cup.
Hugill was hardly prolific before the Hammers went and spent £10million [The Times] on him in January, so hoping for that may be clutching at straws.
In the first half of last term with Preston, the centre-forward hit the back of the net just eight times in 27 Championship appearances, which hardly justified his price-tag.
If Boro could get him for much less than the sum the Irons paid, then there is chance that he could be off the books at the London Stadium for good.
There is still plenty of the season left for Hugill to make his mark in the north-east, but judging by what he has shown so far, he could score 20 goals before the end of next May and still be nowhere near good enough for the Premier League.