West Ham now in advanced talks to sign £8m striker compared to Julian Alvarez, Wolves are losing ground

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West Ham are in need of a successful summer of recruitment after a terrible 2024/25 campaign.

Last summer was an exciting one as roughly £150m was spent on new signings, but many – such as the £27m Niclas Fullkrug, who scored three goals in 20 games – were poor fits as West Ham ended up finishing 14th in the Premier League.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
14	West HamWest Ham	38	11	10	17	46	62	-16	43

Therefore, Graham Potter cannot afford many more mistakes in the market as he aims to take the Hammers back to where they were before Julen Lopetegui struggled, and the first significant story of the window has now emerged as West Ham open talks to sign Lucas Stassin.

West Ham pushing to beat Wolves to Lucas Stassin

L’Equipe now claim that West Ham are in advanced negotiations to sign the Belgian striker.

The French news outlet state that Lille, Paris FC, Rennes, Marseille, RB Leipzig, Sporting CP and Wolves are all keen to sign Stassin as well, but make it very clear that West Ham are ahead of the pack.

It is said that the Irons are not only discussing a fee with Saint-Etienne, but are also speaking directly to representatives of the Belgium U21 international about personal terms.

Stassin has ended up on West Ham’s radar after an excellent 2024/25 campaign for Saint-Etienne, scoring 14 goals and providing eight assists in 34 appearances across all competitions.

L’Equipe do not mention how much Saint-Etienne want for the man born in Braine-le-Comte, but it is said the Ligue 2 outfit want a ‘high price’ after investing a club-record €10m (£8m) to sign him from Westerlo last August.

For those unaware of how the 20-year-old plays, data site FBREF show that Atletico Madrid No.19 and Argentina international Julian Alvarez, formerly of Manchester City, is a similar striker.

Thierry Henry actually said Alvarez is his favourite striker recently, so this is a comparison which should excite West Ham fans if the east Londoners can get a deal over the line.

Lucas Stassin represents an exciting change of approach from West Ham

The Hammers often spend heavily on older, more established strikers, such as the aforementioned Fullkrug – aged 32 – and previously, expensive stars like Gianluca Scamacca and Sebastien Haller.

Therefore, it is pleasing to see West Ham, who also want Aaron Ramsdale, take a different path with Stassin, who represents more of a long-term addition at the age of 20.