West Ham Opinion: Should the Hammers sign Andrea Belotti?
According to a report in the Daily Star, West Ham are lining up Andrea Belotti as a possible alternative to Maxi Gomez after Marko Arnautovic handed in a transfer request to leave for China.
The Austria international has been one of the West Ham’s best players since his move in the 2017/18 season.
A divisive character throughout his football career, Arnautovic has bags of talent and despite his questionable attitude, West Ham will be losing one of their star players.
Lucas Perez and Andy Carroll have left the club and Javier Hernandez is likely to move out as well. Hence, it is imperative that they find an adequate replacement for the Austrian and all the other forward options and Andrea Belotti is certainly capable of filling those shoes.
Belotti came into prominence in the 2016/17 season after his heroics for Torino in the Serie A, where he scored 28 goals and 3 assists in all competitions.
This was an absolutely phenomenal showing from the Italian and it earned him a national cap as well. Belotti hasn’t hit the same heights since, having scored 13 in the 2017/18 season and 17 in the 2018/19 season in all competitions but this is still a fantastic record to have.
It’s not just his goalscoring that is to be admired though. Belotti is a tireless worker who chases every ball in the channels. He is constantly harrying defenders into making mistakes and is a solid threat in the box. This would be a great bonus for West Ham as he is a player made of the right characteristics.
West Ham have seen fantastic players like Dmitri Payet and Arnautovic lead them over the last few seasons but they’ve not reciprocated the love from the fans towards the club and that is something that needs to change.
Manuel Pellegrini has already shown signs of a team that could be making inroads into Europe and maybe even more since taking charge last year. With Pablo Fornals already having signed for the club, there is a fantastic attack that could be in the making along with Felipe Anderson.
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This would be a fantastic move for Andrea Belotti and West Ham. West Ham will get a striker who has recorded more goals than any of the current players for the Hammers and Belotti can get a big move to the Premier League.