Striking departures could offer Hugill slim chance to resurrect West Ham career

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Jordan Hugill has returned to West Ham United after his loan spell with boyhood club Middlesbrough came to an end, as confirmed by Teesside Live.

The striker signed for a reported £10 million (BBC) in January 2018 has failed to establish himself at the London Stadium, with the feeling persisting that he’s a Championship striker at a Premier League club.

Hugill scored seven goals across all competitions at Boro, which is a relatively modest total – but not helped by Tony Pulis’s frighteningly negative football, the presence of Britt Assombalonga and the team’s underperformance.

But the Hammers also need strikers – Andy Carroll has now left the club and Lucas Perez does not look to be in favour at all.

Marko Arnautovic and Michail Antonio have played up there but they’re not strikers, just wingers who have been able to do a job up front because of their physicality.

There’s no doubt that a new first-choice striker is needed, while Javier Hernandez should be retained as cover – but as a third choice, West Ham could do worse than Hugill.

He’s a hard worker and in the position that West Ham are in, they should be looking to develop players who are still at the right age to get better, while spending their money on the absolute top quality players to improve the first team.

That might just earn Hugill an unlikely reprieve and if he works hard to improve his game – he knows where the net is, it’s just translating that up a level – he could be a secret weapon next season. Stranger things have happened…