The £16m striker mistake West Ham must avoid in the January transfer window to ensure Premier League survival

Nuno Espirito Santo’s appointment at West Ham United means The Hammers are far from dead and buried in the Premier League, but they need to ace the January transfer window to boost their survival hopes and signing a new striker is one of their top priorities.

The Hammers have had a pretty dreadful record at centre-forward for over a decade now - since Carlton Cole stopped firing in 2011/12, strikers have only topped the club’s Premier League top-scoring charts outright six times - five of them through Michail Antonio and Marko Arnautovic. In comparison, Fulham have had five different strikers achieve that feat a combined nine times, and it’s not for the want of trying by West Ham either.

In that time, The Hammers have thrown a over £150 million at accomplished players like Javier Hernandez, Sebastien Haller, Gianluca Scamacca, Andre Ayew, Danny Ings, Enner Valencia, Jordan Hugill and Niclas Fullkrug plus loanees Evan Ferguson and Simone Zaza, in the vain attempt to find more consistent output in front of goal.

Which is why Hammers fans should be extremely nervous about the latest rumours linking Ireland’s World Cup qualifiers hero Troy Parrott with a move to the London Stadium.

Interest in Parrott skyrocketing after World Cup qualifying heroics

It says a lot that though Callum Wilson hasn’t exactly set the Premier League alight this campaign, his two goals combined with no transfer fee already makes him one of West Ham’s better centre-forward signings of the last decade. The point to this hammering of The Irons’ transfer dealings isn’t just for a good laugh - it’s to show just how poor they are at evaluating striker talent particularly from outside these shores.

West Ham’s only real success stories up front - Arnautovic, Antonio and pseudo-striker Jarrod Bowen - were all signed straight after netting double figures in English across multiple seasons whereas most of their failures were either never proven in the Premier League or Championship, or hadn’t shown that quality immediately before signing.

Parrott certainly doesn’t fall into that category but having been the standout story of the international break, rumours linking him to the Premier League have nonetheless spread like wildfire.

The Irishman was already joint-fourth in the race for Eredivisie golden boot having helped fire AZ Alkmaar to third in the table (ahead of Ajax) with six goals in seven games. That’s after Parrott scored 18 goals in all competitions in his debut season for AZ, and 17 on loan at Excelsior Rotterdam in 2023/24.

So after five goals in two games against Portugal and Hungary, including that memorable winner to keep the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup dream alive, interest in the 23-year-old from the Premier League has skyrocketed.

As reported by Dutch outlet De Telegraaf via Leeds United News, AZ want £16 million for Parrott in the January transfer window, with Leeds United also interested and Tottenham Hotspur quashing rumours that they could re-sign their former academy player.

Why West Ham can’t be tempted by Parrott

Arnautovic had 22 Premier League goals to his name, Antonio scored 19 in 54 games for Nottingham Forest and Bowen had netted 52 times in three seasons at Hull City before West Ham bought them, compared to Parrott’s record of 16 goals in 145 games at Championship and League One clubs.

In his most recent spell, at Preston North End, he missed a one-on-one in an otherwise bright debut against Wigan Athletic which appeared to drain his confidence and it took over two months to open his account in the league. Parrott ended the season with three Championship goals and out of 750 players in the division, he was in the top 10 worst finishers by goals minus expected goals (just ahead of teammate Liam Delap, funnily enough).

Of course, none of this should diminish his achievements outside of England. He delivers truckloads of credit for bouncing back from that disappointment in Preston, moving to a new country, getting his club career back on track and now becoming an Irish sporting hero. But from Parrott’s perspective, isn’t it better for him to continue with the winning formula he’s enjoying right now?

The January transfer window will shut well before Ireland’s World Cup play-offs and keeping in form until the tournament will be of paramount importance.

If Parrott has a golden summer in North America and wants to exit AZ then that move and contract will take care of itself, on a higher wage than he’d earn by leaving in January. If not, it’s better to lose form away from the bright lights and unsympathetic media of the Premier League anyway.

Meanwhile West Ham need a proven goalscorer in English football, not to take yet another expensive gamble on a foreign import who will need to adjust to the top flight and immediately start producing in a relegation fight - it’s simply a move that makes sense for neither club nor player.