West Ham United have confirmed the signing of 25-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt striker Sébastien Haller for a fee of around £45 million.
The Hammers were in desperate need of a striker following the departures of Andy Carroll, Lucas Perez, and Marko Arnautovic, as Javier Hernandez was the only option Manuel Pellegrini had.
Haller formed a deadly partnership with Luka Jovic at Frankfurt, who has now joined Real Madrid.
The two scored 47 goals between themselves in the 2018-19 season, helping the side to a seventh-place finish in Bundesliga, while also reaching the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Let’s take a look at why 3 reasons why Haller to West Ham is a good move:
Haller is great in the air
West Ham United have, over the years, had one or more strikers who are tall and good in the air. The likes of Andy Carroll and Marko Arnautovic were good in the air, and for a mid-table team, playing long-ball football can be a useful tactic, especially to ruffle the feathers of teams at the top end of the table.
Haller is great in the air, thanks to his 6’3″ height. The Frenchman is good with flick-ons to play the ball towards other attacking players, while also scoring headed goals from set-pieces.
In the 2018-19 season, he competed for 11.8 headers on an average, winning 6.9 of them per game. With players like Felipe Anderson, Pablo Fornals, and Andriy Yarmolenko playing in the final third, playing the ball long to Haller for flick-ons could be a very useful tactic.
Physically strong with great movement
The 25-year-old Frenchman is built like a tank and brushes off challenges with ease, and will feel at home in the very physical Premier League. But he’s no slouch or only depends on his physique and heading to get away from defenders.
Haller has the technical ability to get past defenders to link up with his fellow attackers in the final third.
He has the ability to quickly turn his defender and head goal bound, while also having the technique and strength to hold on to the ball and keep it before his teammates join in on the attack.
Sebastien Haller is a potent goal-scorer
As mentioned previously, Haller and Jovic combined well last season to cause problems to opposition defences. West Ham have been crying out for a goal-scorer who can score 15+ goals every season, which they thought they had found in Arnautovic, but his departure from West Ham has robbed them of a consistent scorer.
Haller scored 20 goals last season in all competitions while assisting 9 times as well.
A potent goalscorer, Haller could easily deliver 15 goals for the club which would surpass the 11 goals that Arnautovic scored last year, who ended the season as the highest goalscorer for the Hammers.
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