After months of stories, reports, and rumours, silly season is finally coming to an end, and West Ham United haven’t done half bad.
Fans were understandably worried for a period, but a late flurry, which has seen the arrivals of Mateus Fernandes and Soungoutou Magassa, has given them reason to be optimistic.
Moreover, following his celebration against Nottingham Forest, it now looks like Lucas Paqueta will be staying in East London for a little while longer.
One superstar who is moving today is Alexander Isak, and while he’s not coming to the London Stadium, West Ham have been linked with a striker who’s won comparisons to him.
West Ham target Isak-esque goalscorer
According to a recent report from GIVEMESPORT, West Ham are now interested in Victor Boniface.
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The report has revealed that the Hammers are considering a late move for the Bayer Leverkusen star, who remains on the market following his failed medical with AC Milan earlier this summer.
The Italian side were set to sign the Nigerian striker in a deal that would have seen them pay a €5m loan fee and then a €24m buy clause, which comes to around £25m in total.
There is certainly some risk in signing Boniface, but he has proven himself to be a lethal striker in the past and has even been compared to Isak.
How Boniface compares to Isak
While there are some obvious similarities between Boniface and Isak, from their positions to their age range and ability to run in behind players, it goes deeper than that.
According to FBref, the Swedish goalscorer has been the third most similar forward to the Nigerian in Europe’s top-five leagues across the last 365 days.
You can gain a better understanding of how this conclusion was reached by taking a look under the hood, at the underlying numbers in which they rank closely.
Non-Penalty Expected G+As
0.73
0.70
Non-Penalty G+As
0.80
0.82
Progressive Carries
2.32
2.71
Shots on Target
1.52
1.34
Shot-Creating Actions
2.86
3.01
Carries into the Penalty Area
1.34
1.41
Successful Take-On
1.34
1.37
In this instance, that includes metrics such as actual and expected non-penalty goals plus assists, shot-creating actions, carries into the penalty area, successful take-ons and more, all per 90.
In other words, the 24-year-old is a serious goal threat and not just that, but someone who can drag the ball into dangerous areas on his own when needed.
However, while having so many statistical similarities to someone as unbelievably talented as Isak is more than encouraging, all that matters for a forward is scoring goals, and thankfully, he has no issue doing so.
For example, in 62 appearances for Leverkusen, totalling 3496 minutes, the “absolute monster” of a striker, as dubbed by respected analyst Ben Mattinson, has scored 32 goals and provided 12 assists.
That means he’s averaged a goal involvement every 1.40 games, or every 79.45 minutes, since joining the German outfit, which is a world-class rate of return.
Ultimately, even though there is an element of risk in the deal, West Ham should do what they can to bring in Boniface before the window shuts at 7pm.