Hugill Is Not The Answer But All We Can Ask Is He Tries His Best...

Fans were furious when West Ham signed the striker from Preston in January

- David Bowden

As the time ticked on in the January transfer window our need for a striker became more and more alarmingly apparent.

We finally found a home for long time wantaway striker Diafra Sakho – who departed to Rennes; deadline day also saw the departure of the versatile Andre Ayew.

We were linked with the likes of Russia captain Fyodor Smolov, Leicester’s Islam Slimani and England forward Danny Ings and Daniel Sturridge – who eventually signed for West Bromwich Albion and promptly ended up back on a stretcher minutes into his first Baggies start.

Few, though, if any, had the name of Preston North End’s Jordan Hugill on the radar.

Indeed, many have named him the most underwhelming Hammers signing in history.

Harsh when you consider some of the utter rubbish the club has signed in past history, I offer you Wellington Paulista and Walter Lopez to name but two.

The Middlesbrough-born forward looked refreshingly excited after sealing his somewhat surprising move to east London.

During his ‘Welcome’ video it appeared his Christmases had all come at once as he announced he was ‘looking forward to walking out to all the bubbles’ in his thick northern accent.

Whilst many mocked the signing, mainly due to their anger at Karren Brady supposedly scuppering a potential move for Slimani and the board failing to stump up the cash for Dendoncker and Smolov, I was quietly pleased with the arrival of someone clearly so keen to play in claret and blue.