West Ham opinion: Pellegrini wants Andrea Belotti – a brilliant choice
According to a report from Calciomercato, West Ham United are still interested in signing Torino’s spearhead Andrea Belotti in the summer. The Hammers were heavily linked with a move for the Italian in January as a replacement for Marco Arnautovic.
However, the deal for the Austrian could not be completed and Arnautovic stayed at West Ham and soon signed a new contract. Despite his new deal, Arnautovic could still be exit-bound this summer, with West Ham willing to let him go for £45million.
West Ham will look to revive their interest in Andrea Belotti in the summer if their star Austrian leaves the club. The Hammers had a €40million bid for him rejected in January but with Calciomercato confirming that Belotti wanted the move to happen, a possibility of a summer move is really high.
Since his transfer fiasco in January, Arnautovic has failed to score a goal for the Hammers and has been really poor. Summer signing Lucas Perez hasn’t had the kind of impact that West Ham would have wanted him to and Andy Carrol’s injury issues make him highly unreliable.
This leaves Manuel Pellegrini with just Javier Hernandez who, like Arnautovic, has scored just 7 goals all season. Chicharito will turn 31 in the summer and it’s time that the Hammers start to look at the future.
Belotti, at 25, has had a decent season for the Turin club, having scored 10 goals so far this season. The Italian first came to spotlight two seasons ago when he took the Italian top-flight by storm.
The forward scored an incredible 28 goals in 38 games for Torino in one of the best campaigns from an Italian forward in ages. Belotti is a proven goalscorer who is capable of changing the course of the game all by himself.
Despite not being the tallest forward, Belotti is a monster in the air and averages a staggering 4.3 successful aerial duels won per game so far this season.
The Italian also averages 3.2 shots per game so far this season but is capable of producing much better numbers in a better team. (WhoScored)
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Conclusion
Belotti will be a brilliant fit in the Premier League and will thrive in Manuel Pellegrini’s side, with the likes of Felipe Anderson and Samir Nasri setting him through on goal.
The 25-year-old Torino star would be a leader in the Hammers side and would be a lethal addition who can help them climb up the Premier League table in the coming years.