West Ham United face a colossal final two months of the season as they look to secure European football for next season with eight Premier League matches remaining as well as at least two more Europa League games with the Hammers set to take on French side Lyon in the quarter-final next month.
With a busy run-in that will have a major impact on how next season will look as well as the sort of transfer window they may have, David Moyes could do with some alternatives in what is a pretty light squad in order to manage.
Attack, in particular, is short of personnel with Michail Antonio the East London club’s only senior striker. Therefore, now may be the perfect time to promote U23s star Armstrong Oko-Flex.
In the Pipeline
Although predominantly a winger, Oko-Flex did play at centre-forward in the 2-1 EFL Trophy win away at Ipswich, in which the 20-year-old Irishman netted.
However, it’s his campaign in the Premier League 2 that has caught the eye, with the winger scoring 11 goals and assisting two in 18 appearances for the U23s.
The Irishman has made a handful of first-team squads and Moyes is very much aware of his talent, although the 20-year-old is yet to get his first taste of senior football.
Formerly a youth player at West Ham’s city rivals Arsenal, Oko-Flex joined the Hammers from Celtic last summer on a free transfer, having made two first-team appearances for the Scottish giants.
U23s coach Dmitri Halajko was very pleased with the early signs shown by the 20-year-old, saying: “Armstrong’s finishing is a real strong point of his. When he gets into the final third, he’s a very dangerous player. We wanted to do that tonight and he managed to take his chances.”
Goals have been shared out rather equally across the Hammers team this campaign, with six players having scored five or more goals so far this term.
Wide man Jarrod Bowen is currently the club’s top scorer with 12 goals, but the Englishman could miss both legs of West Ham’s Europa League quarter-final with a time frame on his return from injury still uncertain.
Moreover, both Pablo Fornals and Said Benrahma have endured a less fruitful second half of the season compared to their first, with the duo scoring a combined five Premier League goals since early November.
With the possibility of the Hammers having to play another 13 matches this season, having already played 44 times, Moyes will need extra depth to ensure that the run-in doesn’t have too much of a serious impact on his star assets.
There is no doubt that West Ham will need to add personnel to their front-line this summer, but the East London club may already have a solution to that issue in Oko-Flex. Once Bowen is fit again, the dynamic attacking duo could create quite the partnership up top for Moyes.
In other news: West Ham now submit offer to sign “serious liability”, he’s even worse than Diop