West Ham United insider ExWHUemployee has stated that he believes the Hammers could act upon their apparent interest in Liverpool striker Divock Origi on the latest edition of The West Ham Way.
According to Football Insider, West Ham have ‘opened preliminary talks’ to sign the Belgian striker – although Ex went on to refute these claims when discussing the Hammers’ options.
David Moyes’ only two signings this summer have been Craig Dawson, who was with the side last season, and Alphonse Areola on loan, so his next move could be to bolster his options in the final third, especially with Jesse Lingard returning to Manchester United this summer.
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Another club that appears to be struggling to do business this summer is Liverpool and that may be down to the fact they have several fringe players who they wish to move on before splashing out cash and adding to their wage bill.
West Ham could be eyeing up some Liverpool players who may not be regulars at Anfield, as Ex explained.
He said: “I think it’s interesting to keep an eye on Origi at Liverpool. He’s someone we’ve been interested in for a while, I think if a loan deal could happen for him and potentially other players from Liverpool – I don’t think you can sign two players from the same club, but there’s a number of players at Liverpool that if they’re available for a loan, we could go for one or the other.
“So I’m talking about [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain maybe, [Xherdan] Shaqiri, but these are all hypothetical – we’ve not made any moves for them yet, neither have we for Origi at this point.”
TIF Thoughts on West Ham eyeing up Liverpool players…
As Ex highlighted, if the Hammers could bring in someone like Origi or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – players who have arguably something to prove in the Premier League and maybe forgotten about over recent seasons – they could flourish, much like Lingard did last campaign under Moyes.
West Ham are reportedly in a takeover saga, so Davids Gold and Sullivan may be more reluctant than ever to splash the cash if they don’t believe they will be owning the club for very much longer, so loan deals may well be the route Moyes has to go down this summer.