West Ham United could be grabbing themselves a serious upgrade on Nikola Vlasic if they were to sign Amine Gouiri this summer.
According to reports in the Italian press, West Ham United are one of a number of clubs that are looking to sign the Frenchman this summer.
The 22-year-old is naturally a centre-forward, but has played slightly further back as a second-striker before, as well as out wide, and could offer some stiff competition to someone like Vlasic at the club to play off the shoulder of Michail Antonio – who having finished the past two seasons as their top scorer in the league, might not give up his starting role too easily.
Here, we look at the two men and see how they stack up against each other.
Nikola Vlasic
Will Vlasic find some form at West Ham?
Yes
No
The Croatian hasn’t exactly been tearing it up for West Ham this season since signing for just under £27m in the summer, mainly because he hasn’t had a chance to, with just 16 starts in all competitions, the majority of them in cups. And when he has been given his chance to play, he hasn’t impressed, with only one goal and three assists to his name.
Meanwhile, when his performances are broken down on a per-game basis, he’s only managing to put up 0.3 shots, 0.5 key passes and 0.5 dribbles per match in the Premier League (via WhoScored).
Amine Gouiri
Compare those numbers to Gouiri, who does have the benefit of playing more games, which has led to him grabbing a lot more goals than Vlasic, with 10 strikes alongside seven assists, while he’s more than made the most of his opportunities on a per-game basis as well.
In Ligue 1 this season, he has averaged 2 shots, 1.4 key passes and 1.8 dribbles per game, which far outweighs what Vlasic has been able to put up, with his only loss head-to-head being in pass completion, which stands at 79.1% compared to Vlasic’s 82.5% (via WhoScored).
TIF Verdict…
Not only does Gouiri have Vlasic beaten in a lot of statistical categories as shown above, but he also has the benefit of age on his side, as he is only 22, having two years on the Croatian. While not a big difference, it still gives West Ham United that little bit more time to work with him if they were to bring him on board.
It could also cost them a pretty penny, with the CIES Football Observatory – a company which has developed a powerful econometric approach to assess the transfer value of professional footballers on a scientific basis – putting his value at between €40m-€50m (£33.3m-£41.7m), but if he can hit the ground running and keep West Ham in contention for a Champions League place, it certainly will have been money well spent.
In other news: Moyes has lost his mind: West Ham’s first-choice target is no better than Antonio – opinion