West Ham must axe £125k-p/w flop who was dubbed a “massive signing”

West Ham United’s highest earners are making £150k-per-week, with club captain Jarrod Bowen and Lucas Paqueta the two players on that sum of money. An argument could be made that these two players are the two key men for the Hammers, and therefore justify taking home the biggest salaries.

Julen Lopetegui’s side spent £119.9m over the summer, as they looked to reinforce the side ready for the Premier League campaign. This now means three of the top ten earners in Max Kilman, Niclas Füllkrug and Aaron Wan-Bissaka are new signings.

But the club’s third-highest earner isn’t justifying his wage, making £125k-per-week, and barely managing to get on the pitch, only totalling 170 minutes this season thus far in his eight appearances.

First impressions of Danny Ings at West Ham

When Ings first signed for West Ham back in January 2023 for a fee of around £15m, ex-Leeds United striker Noel Whelan told Football Insider the 30-year-old would be a “massive signing” for the Hammers, keeping Gianluca Scamacca and Michail Antonio out of the team.

The English striker is known to be a prolific finisher in front of goal, having netted 43 goals for Burnley, and 46 goals for Southampton in the past, even earning himself a move to Liverpool back in 2015, where he only managed to make 25 appearances, scoring four times.

Ings’ West Ham career hasn’t panned out as expected, making 60 appearances for the club in all competitions, but only managing to score five times, providing three assists, and totaling 1,837 minutes.

The output the 32-year-old is providing, and the amount of game time he receives, doesn’t provide good value for his wages. Therefore, the Hammers need to consider moving him on and looking to freshen up their striker department with some younger profiles.

West Ham’s current strikers compared

Along with Ings, West Ham’s other main striker options are both 30+ in age, with new signing Fullkrug, who has only managed four appearances for the club since joining, suffering from Achilles tendon irritation, and Antonio, who has made 14 appearances, only scoring once and assisting once this campaign.

Of the three, the only player to have over 200+ minutes played in 2024/25 is Antonio, who has played 838 minutes, making 14 appearances, and starting 11 times.

Ings comes out on top in seven of the nine metrics analysed, but much of this is due to the fewer minutes played. The numbers do tell us the Hammers have a mixture of qualities in their striking trio, with Fullkrug winning the most aerial duels, Ings being a high shot-volume striker, and Antonio being involved in his side’s progression with his carrying and passing qualities.

But the minutes shared between the trio show exactly why West Ham need to recruit in this area, adding a more youthful profile, who can contribute in build-up, whilst also threatening the opposition back line, and adding extra goal threat to the side.

Antonio can still provide the Hammers with a hard-working profile and is often available which could see him kept as the deputy striker, with the other two being moved on in the hope that Lopetegui brings in a new centre-forward to lead the line.