West Ham Opinion: Dario Benedetto might be the next big-money flop at east London
According to TEAMtalk, West Ham are plotting a £20 million summer raid on Argentine giants Boca Juniors for striker Dario Benedetto, with reports claiming that the 28-year-old has his heart set on a move to Europe at the end of the season.
The same report claims that the 5-cap Argentine international has also attracted interest from Serie A giants AS Roma and Inter Milan.
After spending a fortune last summer upon his arrival in east London, Hammers manager Manuel Pellegrini is set for another major squad overhaul at the end of the current campaign, with a new striker high on the Chilean’s wishlist for the summer.
The likes of Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez, Marko Arnautovic and Lucas Perez have failed to live up to the expectations at the London Stadium and the Hammers are expected to look for potential buyers in a bid to trim their wage bill.
Arnautovic was heavily linked with a move to China in January but the Austrian put an end to those speculations by signing a new long-term contract at east London (h/t BBC).
However, interest in the 29-year-old from other leagues is likely to resurface in the summer, though he has struggled for form in the second half of the season.
Javier Hernandez has shown glimpses of his old poaching instincts occasionally but the Mexican has not done enough to convince that he can fire the club to a European spot next season.
Andy Carroll, on the other hand, has spent more time on the sidelines than on the pitch over the course of his five seasons at east London and the Hammers are likely to get rid of the former Liverpool man in the summer.
Suffice to say, the existing striking options at West Ham are not good enough to propel the club to greater heights in the upcoming campaign and a new striker should be made a top priority if the Hammers are to close the gap on the top-six sides.
However, Dario Benedetto is not the kind of player that they should be looking at, although he is one of the most feared strikers in the Argentine Primera Division.
The soon-to-be 29-year-old boasts of a prolific goalscoring record for his current club Boca Juniors and he also travelled across the continent to make a huge impact at Mexican clubs America and Tijuana earlier in his career.
The striker made eyeballs turn with a 21-goal season for Boca a couple of years back but he has failed to get anywhere near that mark since then.
An anterior cruciate ligament rupture in November 2017 spoiled a strong start to the season and he has struggled to find his scoring boots ever since, netting only 4 goals from 19 league appearances in the current campaign.
Those figures clearly reveal that his career is in a downward spiral at the moment and a move to a highly-competitive league, such as the Premier League, won’t help his cause.
Standing at 5ft. 9 inches with a diminutive frame, Benedetto is likely to find it difficult to cope with the physicality of the Premier League, and given that he has no previous experience of playing in Europe, the Argentinian international might not be able to replicate his old form.
Very few strikers arriving from the South American leagues have managed to make a significant impact in the Premier League and the last thing that West Ham need is another glorifying white elephant in their attacking ranks.
They are already an ageing side, with quite a few of the first-team players near the 30-year mark, and signing Benedetto at this stage of his career, particularly for such a huge amount, would make little sense.
To Read More West Ham News, Click Here:– Latest West Ham news
To conclude, West Ham certainly need to bring in attacking reinforcements but they should look at young and talented strikers across the top-five leagues in Europe.
