West Ham have reportedly agreed to sign Hogan from Brentford, but will a Championship striker cure their problems in front of goal?
West Ham have reportedly agreed a £15 million fee with Brentford to sign in-form striker Scott Hogan. Hogan began his career at League Two Rochdale where his form earned him a move to Brentford. He has since scored 21 goals in his 33 appearances in the Championship including 14 this season. Even though West Ham are desperate for a striker and their target looks perfect on paper, the last five unproven Premier League strikers coming for big money from the Championship have hardly set the world alight in the top tier.
Benik Afobe headed to Bournemouth last season for a reported £11.31 million after scoring 9 in 25 fixtures for Wolverhampton Wanderers. Afobe netted 22 in his 46 games for Wolves in the Championship, but has struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League. The Bournemouth striker has only netted 6 goals in his 30 appearance’s in the top flight, scoring a goal every 235 minutes.
Leonardo Ulloa propelled Brighton to the Championship playoffs in the 13/14 season, scoring 14 in his 35 league appearances.. Following his performance’s in the second tier he signed for Leicester where he’s become a Premier League winner but has only scored 18 in 78 fixtures. The season immediately after he joined the Foxes for £7.65 million, Ulloa scored 11 in 37 games, scoring a goal every 219 minutes.
Connor Wickham has been knocking about for an eternity for a 23 year old, Wickham begun his career at Ipswich. In the 10/11 season the young striker played 37 goals for the club in the Championship scoring on 9 occasions. This form earned him the big money move to Sunderland, the Black Cats forked out £7.65 million for the young striker. In his first season he netted just once in 16 appearances. To date, Wickham has scored only 18 Premier League goals in 108 games.
Kenwyne Jones first came into the spotlight in the 06/07 season where he scored 14 goals in 35 appearances for Southampton, firing them into the playoffs. He started the next season at the Saints but after one game was snapped up by Sunderland for £7.65 million. Jones netted only 7 times in his first full Premier league season, appearing 33 times in total (one in every 403 minutes). The 32 year old went on to score 40 goals in 195 games.
David Nugent’s performances for Preston earned him a move to the Premier League with Portsmouth for a fee of £7.65 million. In his last season in the Championship he scored 15 goals in 44 games, however he failed to shine in his first Premier League season. Nugent didn’t score in his first top flight season despite playing 15 games. Nugent has tried his hand in the Premier League with a handful of clubs but has never produced his Championship form, scoring just 14 in 97 top tier appearances.
West Ham will be hopeful Hogan will have more of an impact than the listed big money purchases from the Championship. The Hammers are 5/2 to finish in the top ten and as short as 11/1 to be relegated.
