The shortlist this morning seemed to be a tale of two strikers. The older, less mobile Portuguese Andre Silva was ‘shortlisted’ but seen by the club as a back – up option. The late entrant coming up on the rails was Brian Brobbey, 22, Ajax powerhouse: Antonio’s heir apparent compared to Silva’s Ings 2.0 was how one web site put it this morning.
They’re certainly doing all they can to convince him: £100,000 a week is on the table: Graham Potter and his new head of recruitment Kyle Macaulay have seemingly settled on the young Netherlands’ striker and they’re not alone in their admiration for his ability and obvious potential.
Erik Ten Hag tried unsuccessfully to persuade him to join Manchester United, which he chose to reject in favour of re-joining Ajax after a spell at RB Leipzig.
The young striker, described by breakingthelines.com in March last year..
“Boasts superlative physicality and lethal finishing in front of goal. Brian Brobbey has continued to exert dominance over Eredivisie defenders, his goal tally currently stands at 15 goals and has provided 7 assists in 23 Eredivisie games for Ajax so far this season.”
Which, being able to properly bully defenders, is an option West Ham have not had since Michail Antonio was at his peak in the ‘lockdown season’ of 2019-20 which helped propel West Ham to a sixth place finish.
It is no wonder other clubs are queueing up for the young Ajax powerhouse. If West Ham can get a deal over the line they may well have an heir apparent to both Antonio’s number nine shirt and to his rampant ‘beast mode’ which helped Mikey to become the club’s record goal scorer. 83 goals and hopefully, fingers crossed, more to come.
A perfect example for Brobbey to follow, if only Potter and Macaulay can earn their spurs (no pun intended) and grab their first triumph at West Ham by getting Brobbey’s signature on a “loan with obligation to buy” Hammers’ contract. A straight loan does nobody any good. At just 22, the young striker is not merely a short term sticking-plaster fix but a long term prospect for future stardom.
Kudus came from Ajax and has trebled in value. No reason why Brobbey cannot do the same. ‘BB’ certainly offers more potential to enthuse the fan base and propel Potter’s squad forwards than the faded jaded Andre Silva option.
Just for once, West Ham, don’t cock it up!