United are reportedly considering making a move to sign Valencia star Hugo Duro, as per the Spanish outlet Fichajes.

The Hammers decided to reinforce the attacking department by signing Niclas Fullkrug from Borussia Dortmund this summer. However, he hasn’t been able to serve his new club property thus far this campaign due to injury problems.

As a result, Julen Lopetegui has been using Michail Antonio in the centre-forward position. Danny Ings is also at the Spaniard’s disposal but both are currently in the twilight of their career.

The East London club have found it difficult to score goals this term and have found the back of the net only six times in as many games in the Premier League thus far. As a consequence of that, they are currently languishing down 14th in the table with five points, sitting only two points above the relegation zone.

Therefore, it seems Lopetegui is looking to address the goal-scoring problems by signing a new striker next year and according to the report by Fichajes, West Ham have expressed their interest in Duro.

Duro to West Ham
Valencia would be open to letting the 24-year-old leave the club should they receive an offer of at least £21m from his potential suitors. Therefore, West Ham can manage to secure his signature for an affordable price.

However, the Spanish outlet states that purchasing Duro won’t be easy for Lopetegui’s side as Aston Villa are also keen on purchasing him as a potential replacement for Jhon Duran – whose future is currently uncertain at Villa Park.

The Spaniard has established himself as a key player for Los Ches having moved to the Estadio Mestalla from Getafe. He enjoyed a productive campaign in La Liga last term, scoring 13 goals and registering two assists in 37 appearances. The forward has scored twice thus far this season in five league starts.

He is still very young and has yet to reach his full potential. Therefore, Duro’s age profile would be perfect to strengthen West Ham’s attack and he could be a shrewd acquisition if they purchase him.

However, it is going to be interesting to see whether Lopetegui’s side eventually opt to make a concrete approach to secure his signature next year to strengthen the frontline.

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Back in the summer off 2023, Declan Rice left West Ham United after captaining the Hammers to their first trophy since 1980, when they won the FA Cup. Rice joined Arsenal for a fee of £105m, signing a five-year deal for the Gunners.

The midfielder has been a revelation since, nominated for the 2024 Ballon d’Or on his way to helping the Gunners cement themselves as one of the finest teams in the land.

He made 51 appearances for Arsenal in all competitions in the 2023/24 season, scoring seven goals, providing 10 assists, and totalling 4,274 minutes played.
The goal since this point has been to replace Rice, which is still proving to be a hard task to this day, but it could have taken a very different route last summer, as the Hammers set their sights on some high-profile names.

Edson Alvarez’s poor run of form

West Ham signed Edson Alvarez as their Rice replacement in 2023, acquiring the Mexican from Ajax for a fee of around £35.4m. He made 42 appearances for the Hammers in all competitions in 23/24, scoring two goals, providing two assists, and contributing to ten clean sheets, not bad numbers by any means.

The 26-year-old has had a poor start to the 2024/25 campaign, though, putting in multiple performances now where he has struggled to put his imprint on the game, both on and off the ball.

One of his worst performances came against Chelsea a few weeks ago, playing 54 minutes, losing possession four times, only winning one of his three ground duels, and getting a yellow card in the game. To make matters worse, he was then sent off against Liverpool in the EFL Cup defeat last week.