West Ham: O’Rourke drops Ajorque claim

West Ham United are enthusiastic about a late swoop to carry Ludovic Ajorque to the London Stadium on switch deadline day.

What’s the most recent?

That’s in response to Pete O’Rourke, with the journalist revealing in a latest put up on Twitter that each one three of West Ham, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest are in a late race to signal the RC Strasbourg Alsace centre-forward – who’s believed to be out there for a determine of round £18m – over the ultimate hours of the summer time switch window.

In his tweet, O’Rourke stated: “Nottingham Forest are making a last-gasp provide for Strasbourg striker Ludovic Ajorque who can also be a goal for Crystal Palace and West Ham.”

“Outstanding”

Contemplating simply how lethal Ajorque was in France final season, coupled with the truth that the striker’s monumental 6 foot 6 body would add one other extraordinarily robust string to West Ham’s already spectacular aerial menace bow, the argument that the 28-year-old can be a outstanding late signing for David Moyes to recover from the road is a straightforward one to make.

Certainly, the £14.4m-rated Frenchman was in sensational type over his 36 Ligue 1 fixtures in 2021/22, bagging 12 objectives, offering eight assists and creating 11 large probabilities for his teammates, in addition to taking a mean of 1.6 pictures – 0.8 of which hit the goal – making 1.3 key passes and successful 5.9 duels per recreation.

These metrics noticed the £8k-per-week expertise who Julien Stephan labelled “remarkable” common a unbelievable SofaScore match score of 7.10, not solely rating ahead as Strasbourg’s third-best performer within the league but additionally because the joint 31st-best participant within the French prime flight as an entire final day out.

Moreover, in response to FBref, the 28-year-old additionally ranks within the prime 9% of forwards in Europe’s large 5 leagues and European competitions for aerial duels received per 90, along with the highest 18% for clearances, the highest 7% for tackles and the highest 19% for passes tried during the last twelve months – proving his effectiveness in each a defensive and ball-playing capability, alongside his evident menace within the remaining third.

As such, it should come as no shock to be taught that Stephan additionally dubbed the French large a “complete” attacker, neither is it troublesome to see why Moyes can be enthusiastic about a deal to carry the 28-year-old to the London Stadium earlier than tonight’s switch deadline, as Ajorque would very a lot seem to make a outstanding addition to West Ham’s present attacking choices.