West Ham urged to sign Joshua King – Do they need him?
According to Football Insider (h/t Yorkshire Post), former Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor feels that West Ham should sign Joshua King in January. He believes that Bournemouth will allow King to leave on a cheap £7-10million range, with his contract expiring at the end of the season.
Profile
Joshua King is a 28-year-old Norwegian forward who plays for Championship club AFC Bournemouth. He started his youth career at Romsas in 1998 and moved to Valerenga in 2006. After two years, he joined Manchester United’s academy.
While he was in their youth setup, he was sent on loan to various clubs such as Preston North End, Borussia Monchengladbach, Hull City, and Blackburn Rovers. The forward only made two appearances for Manchester United’s senior side. (h/t Transfermarkt)
In January 2013, Blackburn made his move permanent as he made 72 appearances for them, scoring 8 goals. Three years later, Bournemouth signed him and he has been ever-present for them since. He has played 175 games to date, scoring 50 goals and providing 17 assists. (h/t Transfermarkt)
The forward is quite experienced for Norway with 51 appearances and 17 goals for the national side.
Joshua King would be a valuable signing for West Ham
West Ham have a decent crop of defenders and midfielders but the same cannot be said about their options upfront. It’s puzzling, to say the least, that a team like West Ham have only two strikers, one of which is terribly out of form and still adjusting since his arrival at the club. Michail Antonio remains their most trusted man in front of goal. Sebastian Haller is yet to prove his heavy price tag.
Joshua King may be a solution to their problems. The Bournemouth striker is an experienced man in the Premier League and has been quite prolific for his team despite the team’s form and quality. With his contract running out, West Ham can look to take advantage of the situation. As mentioned in the report, a cheap deal could be agreed to, which would benefit the Hammers.
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The only drawback to his signing would be his inconsistency. Apart from that, West Ham should definitely be pursuing King given his exploits for Bournemouth over the last few seasons.
