OPINION
West Ham are on the brink of solving their striker crisis after Andy Carroll, Lucas Perez and Marko Arnautovic all left the club this summer.
Eintracht Frankfurt striker Sebastien Haller is the man the Hammers have turned to after they failed to land Maxi Gomez – but we think that’s going to work out very well for them.
The Bundesliga club confirmed that a deal had been agreed with West Ham for Haller on Tuesday, with the 25-year-old set for a medical in London.
Eintracht and @WestHamUtd have agreed terms for the transfer of @HallerSeb. Haller has now been cleared to undergo a medical in London. If all goes to plan then Haller will sign with the Hammers. #SGE pic.twitter.com/VpQNxM4y0I
— Eintracht Frankfurt (@eintracht_eng) July 16, 2019
The Telegraph reported that negotiations over personal terms had stalled later on Tuesday but that the club were still confident the £45m club-record deal would go through.
La Gazzetta Dello Sport journalist Nicolo Schira was even more bullish, saying that a deal was effectively done and that Haller’s agent had not talked with other interested clubs, namely Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund.
West Ham fans won’t be celebrating until they get official confirmation but we think they should be very excited.
TIF Tactics – What are the Hammers getting?
Sebastien Haller came up through the youth ranks at French club Auxerre where he struggled to get anything going. He was sold to Dutch side Utrecht in 2015 for around £675k after scoring just eight goals in 57 games.
He came alive in the Eredivisie, scoring 51 goals in 98 games and earning himself a £6.3m move to Frankfurt in 2015, where he dazzled last season with 20 goals and 12 assists in 39 games in the Bundesliga and Europa League.
At 6’3″ Haller will bring a physical presence to the London Stadium and he stacks up very well alongside Maxi Gomez.
All of the stats in the chart below [wyscout.com] are per 90 mins (career, all competitions) and show that Haller has an all-round game to go with his dominating physique. His numbers in the air are very impressive (winning more than half of his aerial duels) and his range of passing blows Gomez out of the water.
West Ham will be expecting goals but it’s his link-up play with teammates Felipe Anderson, Pablo Fornals and Andrii Yarmolenko that could really make the difference at West Ham next season and send them flying towards Europe in 20/21.
