West Ham United to swoop for Ligue 1 goal-getter: Just what the team needs?

West Ham are on the brink on extending their stay in the Premier League under David Moyes. The Hammers were under the severe threat of dropping down a division but they seem to have picked up their performances in recent weeks to pick up important points. Led by the enigmatic Marko Arnautovic, West Ham have been able to turn their campaign around in the second half of the season.

Ever since the Austrian was played as the centre-forward, the results changed for the good but Moyes looks adamant to beef up his attacking personnel in the coming season. A report from the Sun states that the London club would push for a move for Alassane Plea from OGC Nice. Their acquisition of Javier Hernandez did not pan out as expected and the manager looks destined to add some new faces to the frontline.

Alassane Plea- An Introduction

Plea is a French international, and one of the best forwards in the Ligue 1 currently. A league that is often overshadowed by the presence of players like Neymar, Radamel Falcao and Edinson Cavani, Plea has slowly carved his name in the top bracket of strikers in the league. He is physically dominating and likes to play on the shoulder of the defenders and use his pace.

Plea is quick is a pretty instinctive striker in the box and can manoeuvre the ball well with his footwork, which is why he has turned out to be a playmaking forward of sorts too.

The striker can be rotated around a couple of attacking positions, as he has been very effective from the left wing too. Plea has a tendency of dropping deep and create space for his teammates too. He has appeared 31 times in the League for Nice and has scored an impressive 14 goals.

The forward has notched four assists too whilst having created 26 goal-scoring chances. He started 12 matches from the left wing, and scored five goals and assisted once too.

Should West Ham make a move?

Despite having somewhat escaped the fear of relegation, the Hammers have terribly underperformed this season. They have a decent enough squad to hover around the mid-table positions but, unfortunately, they haven’t done so. The Hammers started the season on a sour note, and never really recovered until Moyes started slowly getting the best out of some of the players.

He took a couple of smart decisions, such as the one of playing Arnautovic as a striker. However, it is evident that the Hammers lack some depth in attack and even the manager would like to lure Alassane Plea to London as the Frenchman’s versatility provides the gaffer with a lot of options to work on.