Jatin Gulia
Why West Ham would be wise to sign Alassane Plea in January
According to football.london, West Ham United were heavily linked with a move for Alassane Plea but missed an opportunity to sign him at the beginning of last season. The striker joined Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach later on.
Plea’s career in the Bundesliga has progressed at rocket speed. He scored 14 goals and provided four assists in the 32 appearances he made last season. Compared to his previous term, where he scored 16 goals and provided five assists in 35 appearances, it is evident that the player does not lack consistency.
In fact, the 26-year-old has already scored four goals and provided four assists this season in just seven appearances. He has also improved his discipline after joining Mönchengladbach.
Yet to receive any card this season, he was in the referees’ book twice the last term and that is a great improvement.
Manuel Pellegrini’s West Ham United have scored a total of just 11 Premier League goals in eight games this season.
The goals have come from five different players with their record-signing Sebastien Haller finding the back of the net four times. The Hammers have also failed to score twice in those games.
Pellegrini is fully dependent on Haller to lead the line. After all, Javier Hernandez joined La Liga club Sevilla on a season-long loan deal. Meanwhile, the Hammers lost Marko Arnautovic at the beginning of the season.
Arnautovic joined Chinese club Shanghai SIPG on a permanent deal. He was in red-hot form for the London club last season, where he scored ten league goals and provided five assists.
Haller has already suffered an injury and missed West Ham’s clash with Brighton in the second game week.
Even though it was a minor injury and the 25-year-old French international recovered soon and returned to the starting line-up in the third game week, he might suffer a long-term injury again.
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West Ham need a striker desperately and boss Pellegrini must try to sign Plea in the winter transfer window instead of repeating a mistake he committed in 2018.
Signing Plea would also bring about a healthy competition for the starting line-up and will help both players, as well as the club, reach greater heights.
