Saturday 1 August 2015

Striker Breakthrough As Hammers Respond to Valencia Injury

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Reports emerging from the Spanish media suggest that Mexican international striker Raul Jimenez is on his way to West Ham for a season long loan from Atletico Madrid. After a disappointing year at 'Los Colchoneros' (The Mattress Makers!?!), Jimenez will be hoping to rediscover the form that prompted Athletico to splash out 11 million to capture his services from Club America.

Many Hammers fans will be wary of bringing in a player who has shined in the Mexican league but struggled for game time in La Liga and although he got on the pitch on 23 occasions last year, he started only five games and amassed a total of one goal.  Jimenez is struggling for game time in an Atletico squad that has both Mario Mandzukic and Fernando Torres as striking options but notably, Diego Simeone has repeatedly commented on the 24 year old's excellent attitude.

However, Jimenez is a completely different prospect to ex-Hammer Pablo Barrera. At 6ft 3inches and with a strong physique he is a substantial presence in the air and, in so far as is possible to predict, should suit Premiership football. He also has neat feet and the ability to produce the extraordinary as his bicycle kicked goal from outside of the area for Mexico against Panama in 2013 proves. If he can rediscover the goalscoring form of his time in the Liga MX, where his strike rate was a goal every 2.5 games, he could be a hit at West Ham. As a loanee, the Hammers are unlikely to lose out on the deal and will still have spare cash left in the Charlie Austin resettlement fund.

Speaking of Barrera, he has been back in Mexico for the past two years having had a stint in La Liga after leaving West Ham. He is currently playing for Monterrey but has fallen off the register of the Mexican National team since 2012.



 

5 comments:

  1. You can hardly call it a breakthrough with that strike rate.
    Time to call CANT CONTROL.

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  2. ZZZZ...Is this a better prospect than Elliott Lee? Time to get the cheque book out DDs

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  3. This guy has the will to win at such a young age was given the go to guy in Mexican club America and to go to Atletico and seat on the bench and still cheer for his teammates he has a great positive attitude would be a great fit plus his young and fast .

    ReplyDelete
  4. This guy has the will to win at such a young age was given the go to guy in Mexican club America and to go to Atletico and seat on the bench and still cheer for his teammates he has a great positive attitude would be a great fit plus his young and fast .

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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