West Ham Have Signed 51 Forwards Since 2010 After £35.5 Million Gianluca Scamacca Signing

August 03, 2022

Sassuolo’s 6ft 5 powerhouse Gianluca Scamacca from Sassuolo for a fee of £35.5 million.

Scamacca hit 16 goals in Serie A last season and David Moyes will be hoping he can replicate that form leading the line for the Hammers.

Michail Antonio, who has played just about every position for West Ham, proved to be a reliable stop-gap and excelled as a makeshift striker – scoring 10 goals and assisting eight wearing the No.9 shirt in the Premier League last term.

But the East London outfit have had a whole lot of difficulty with strikers/forward players ever since David Gold and David Sullivan bought the club in 2010.

In fact, Scamacca becomes the 51st different attacking arrival in that 12-year period and there have been some monumental flops.

Incredibly, 20 out of the 50 players failed to score a single goal for the Hammers - with Benni McCarthy, Mido Marouane Chamakh, Mladen Petric, Simone Zaza, Jordan Hugill and Albian Ajeti among those who drew a blank.

Andy Carroll scored 34 times in 142 appearances for the Hammers after making a club-record £15 million switch and you might have forgotten that West Ham brought Carlton Cole back on a free just months after releasing him.

Diafra Sakho had a solid season in 2015/15 and looked a real gem after hitting 10 goals in the Premier League, but a bit further line and it was Marko Arnautovic who led the line very well, scoring 22 times in 65 appearances across two seasons.

Emmanuel Emenike and Lucas Perez didn't do the business and nor did many others, eventually leading to West Ham smashing their transfer record for Sebastien Haller.

The Ivory Coast striker joined for £45 million from Eintracht Frankfurt and scored seven goals in his first season before joining Ajax in an £18.8 million switch halfway through his second campaign.

He tore it up with the Amsterdam club, even hitting 11 goals in eight Champions League appearances last season and becoming the fastest player to reach double figures in the competition's history.

After earning a move to Borussia Dortmund to replace Erling Haaland, a tumour was found in his testicles and he will now undergo chemotherapy treatment. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Meanwhile, Jarrod Bowen has grown into an absolute talisman at the London Stadium. Predominantly playing on the right flank, the former Hereford United man fired 12 goals in the Premier League last term and received a deserved England call up at the end of the campaign.

But while he's been a huge success story since his £18 million transfer from Hull, West Ham's business in attack has largely been extremely poor and they need Scamacca to hit the ground running.

Here is the list in full of all those forwards who came in:

Benni McCarthy – 14 appearances, 0 goals

Mido – 9 appearances, 0 goals

Ilan – 11 appearances, 4 goals

Pablo Barrera – 23 appearances, 0 goals

Frederic Piquionne – 62 appearances, 11 goals

Victor Obinna – 32 appearances, 8 goals

Demba Ba – 13 appearances, 7 goals

Robbie Keane – 10 appearances, 2 goals

John Carew – 21 appearances, 2 goals

Sam Baldock – 22 appearances, 5 goals

Brian Montenegro – 1 appearance, 0 goals

Joe Dixon – 0 appearances, 0 goals

Nicky Maynard – 17 appearances, 4 goals

Ricardo Vaz Te – 61 appearances, 19 goals

Modibo Maiga – 45 appearances, 7 goals

Andy Carroll – 142 appearances, 34 goals