In the 2023/24 season, West Ham United spent approximately £120 million, reshaping their squad with five permanent additions and securing a loan for Kalvin Phillips in January. This substantial investment came alongside the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal for £105 million, leaving the club with the need to replace his vital midfield contributions.
Their marquee signing of the summer was Mohammed Kudus, brought in from Ajax for around £38 million. Since his arrival, Kudus has made a strong impact, amassing 16 goals and seven assists across 55 games. Despite these successes, West Ham missed out on a target who has gone on to surpass the combined scoring records of Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio.
Bowen has been West Ham’s top scorer this season, with four goals and two assists in 13 appearances, building on his impressive 20-goal record from the previous year. With a lack of consistent goals from the striker position, West Ham has leaned on wide players like Bowen for attacking power. Antonio, at 34, has had a less productive season, netting just one goal and one assist in his 12 appearances—a pattern consistent with last season’s seven goals across 32 games.
This missed target has not only outscored Bowen and Antonio combined in 2023/24 but is continuing to do so in the current 2024/25 season. Data analyst Ben Mattinson has highlighted the striker’s outstanding performance, describing him as “on fire” among potential candidates for West Ham’s forward lineup.
In the summer of 2023, reports strongly linked West Ham with Viktor Gyokeres from Coventry City, with club officials said to have entered discussions. Manager David Moyes reportedly admired Gyokeres, but the Swedish striker eventually signed with Sporting CP for a record £20 million, Coventry’s highest-ever transfer.
Gyokeres has lived up to his “unplayable” reputation, a term his former teammate Maxime Biamou used to describe him. In his first season at Sporting, he scored 43 goals and provided 15 assists in 50 games, driving the team to a league title. Now in his second season, he remains in remarkable form, with 23 goals and four assists in 17 matches, far outpacing the combined efforts of Bowen and Antonio.
With a complete forward’s skillset—pace, dribbling, playmaking, and exceptional finishing—Gyokeres has proven his value, most notably with a hat-trick against Manchester City in the Champions League. His stats reveal that he surpasses Antonio in nearly every performance measure, aside from a slight edge in progressive passes for Antonio.
West Ham fans are left to imagine what a Gyokeres-Bowen partnership might have brought to the team, a combination that could have significantly boosted their offensive capabilities.
