West Ham lining up 27-year-old Europa League hat-trick hero as Antonio replacement | OneFootball

Currently, West Ham's centre forward situation isn't impressive amidst Niclas Fullkrug's unavailability due to his achilles injury. Moreover, Michail Antonio is also past his best Premier League form and at 34-years-old, could look to depart West Ham on a free transfer next year after playing ten seasons at the London Stadium.

Alongside Antonio, Danny Ings is also highly likely to leave the Hammers on a free transfer as he has also entered into the final year of his West Ham contract. Despite not being a great signing for the Hammers unlike Antonio, Ings is a decent second-choice striker and the departures of both Antonio and Ings would leave behind a huge void at the striker position.

West Ham lining up 27-year-old Europa League hat-trick hero as Antonio replacement

Thus, West Ham could add a few young forwards to their squad in the upcoming transfer windows and GIVEMESPORT reports that the Hammers may bring in the UEFA Europa League hat-trick hero as well. Last season, 27-year-old Atalanta forward Ademola Lookman scored a memorable hat-trick in the Europa League final against Bayer Leverkusen to secure the European trophy for the Serie A side.

Alongside his hat-trick heroics, Lookman has registered nearly 20 goal contributions in each of his previous two seasons at Atalanta, helping them become one of the best goalscoring teams in Europe's top-five leagues. Therefore, Lookman's finishing is world-class, which is one of West Ham's struggling areas this season. Thus, the Hammers would be keen to add a goalscorer of Lookman's quality to bolster their squad.

Lookman has previously played in the Premier League for Fulham and Leicester City on-loan, where he showed his incredible talent before joining Atalanta on a permanent basis in 2022. Gianpiero Gasperini's side knows the significance of the left-sided forward to their squad, and thus, could demand around £40 million to part ways with him.

That is a significant transfer fee for the Hammers, who could offer experienced players such as Vladimir Coufal in a swap deal to Atalanta for signing the Nigeria international for around £25 million. However, there are still two months remaining for the January transfer window to open and it remains to be seen whether West Ham will need to bring a new forward to their squad in-case their goalscoring struggles are resolved in the upcoming matches.