After defeat in their Premier League Summer Series opener on Saturday night, West Ham United supporters are extra eager to see their side make signings.
At the weekend in East Rutherford, the Hammers were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at MetLife Stadium, with Jarrod Bowen halving the deficit in the second half, but this failed to spark a full-scale comeback.
Of course, it’s only pre-season, so the results are essentially meaningless, but a front two of Bowen and Niclas Füllkrug, with Luis Guilherme the only attacking player introduced as a substitute, underlines Graham Potter’s need for reinforcements.
With that in mind, are the Irons about to sign a “brilliant talent”?
West Ham’s search for a new attacker
The most notable transfer news of West Ham’s summer so far is the departure of Mohammed Kudus, sold to fierce rivals for a reported fee of £55m, which will certainly make the London derby between the two on 13 September an interesting affair.
The departure of Kudus certainly leaves an enormous void in terms of quality in the Hammers’ forward line, so are they about to address this?
Well, according to a report by Julien Laurens of ESPN, West Ham are ‘keen’ to sign Amine Adli from Bayer Leverkusen, with Wolves also interested.
He adds that the 25-year-old is ‘open to a move’ to the Premier League, valued at around £23m by die Werkself.
So, could he soon swap North Rhine-Westphalia for East London?
How Amine Adli would improve West Ham
Adli began his senior career at Toulouse, scoring eight Ligue 1 goals in 2020/21, on top of seven assists, for les Violets, thereby earning a move to Bayer Leverkusen.
Since, in 142 appearances for die Schwarzroten, he’s racked up 23 goals and 24 assists, helping Bayer win the Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal double unbeaten in 2023/24, claiming the club’s first-ever Meisterschale.
Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labels him a “electric” talent while Fintan O’Reilly of Total Football Analysis describes him as a ‘versatile’ attacker who favours playing on the right, thereby able to cut inside onto hs left foot.
Meantime, Phenom Akpan of Breaking the Lines notes that he is ‘a fantastic ball carrier’ who possesses ‘intelligent movement’ and sublime ‘pace’, all attributes that sound reminiscent of a certain outgoing Kudus, do they not?
So, let’s assess how the duo compared to one another last season.
|
Adli vs Kudus 2024/25 comparison |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Statistics (per 90) |
Adli |
Kudus |
|
Goals |
0.3 |
0.2 |
|
Shots |
1.6 |
1.6 |
|
Shots on target |
0.9 |
0.8 |
|
Shooting accuracy % |
53.85% |
47.83% |
|
Chances created |
1.4 |
1.1 |
|
Passes attempted |
37.6 |
26.7 |
|
Successful dribbles % |
48.4% |
48.4% |
|
Touches |
59.5 |
52.2 |
|
Average SofaScore rating |
6.87 |
6.82 |
As the table outlines, on a per-90 basis, Adli’s statistics last season were more impressive than Kudus’, albeit the Moroccan international did only play 759 minutes in the Bundesliga, starting just six times, hence why he’s seemingly set to be on the move.
The numbers also underline why West Ham may have identified Adli as the ideal Kudus replacement, given how similar their statistics are in terms of shooting, chances created, touches and, most notably, dribbling.
Thus, everything suggests that Adli would be an excellent addition for West Ham, something for their downbeat fan base to get very excited about.
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