Evening news round-up for Wednesday 10/11/16 by 337hammer.

West Ham Cottee: If I hadn’t scored in 17 games I would be ashamed.

West Ham striking legend Tony Cottee stated in his regular newspaper column for the Newham Recorder that he “cannot believe that West Ham have played 17 games so far this season and in that time not one striker has hit the net and for me that is an absolute joke.” “I was a striker and prided myself on scoring goals. I think the longest I went without scoring was 10 games, so if after 17 games, not just me, but all my fellow strikers had failed to hit the net then I would be making a bee-line for the exit door.” “If you want to work out why we are sitting fourth from bottom in the table, look no further than that statistic. It’s embarrassing to think about. We saw on Saturday how much we are lacking a cutting edge and I know we are missing our two top strikers in Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll, but this is just not good enough.” newhamrecorder.co.uk

Is Cottee correct? Should our forwards be ashamed? Is it their fault they have not scored yet? Is it bad luck, poor players, a poor system, poor tactics or something else? How do we solve our striker problem?

West Ham dealt blow in bid to land AC Milan striker Carlos Bacca.

West Ham’s hopes of signing Carlos Bacca have been dealt a blow as AC Milan are trying to swap him for Edin Dzeko. The San Siro club have been scouting the Roma striker for a few months and they have been impressed by what they’ve seen. The news will be a hammer blow to West Ham, who are back on the trail of the Colombian after missing out on him in the summer. The Hammers were reportedly ready to make a January move for Bacca, but Milan’s move for Dzeko may force them to find another target. talksport.com

Should we go back for Bacca? He said no before, why would he say yes now? What are your thoughts?

West Ham and Middlesbrough are tracking Dutch youngster.

Reports emanating from Italy today suggest that West Ham, Middlesbrough and Stoke are all interested in signing PSV Eindhoven youngster Sam Lammers, according to Italian media outlet TuttoMercatoWeb. The 19-year-old forward has spent his entire career this far with the Eredevisie outfit, although he spent time on loan at Dutch second division side Jong PSV, drawing much attention through a succession of terrific displays, where he scored nine goals in 10 league outings. hitc.com

Should we be looking to make Lammers a Hammer? Should we be looking at purchasing a forward for the future? Or would you prefer we looked at a forward that could make an immediate impact on our team?

West Ham are interested in signing Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic in January.

The Croatia international is behind Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain in the Juventus pecking order at Juventus this season and is said to be considering his options. And Italian outlet CalcioMercato claim the 30-year-old target man could be tempted to leave when the transfer window reopens in January. express.co.uk

Should we be going after another Juventus forward? Will the Croatian connection help? Is Mandzukic the answer to our goal scoring problem?

West Ham amongst clubs interested in highly-rated Ajax defender.

Reports emanating from Italy today suggest that West Ham, West Brom and Watford are all interested in signing Ajax youngster Danilho Doekhi, according to Italian media outlet TuttoMercatoWeb. The 18-year-old Dutch defender is highly-rated in his home country, and his imposing 6 ft 3 in frame would seem to be perfectly suited to the intense physical nature of the English Premier League. Doekhi is currently part of Ajax’s second team – Jong Ajax, and the report claims that all three sides have scouted the 19-year-old during his time there. He has six caps under his belt already for his nation’s under-18 side, and if he continues to develop physically and improve technically, he has the ability to become one of the best centre-backs that Holland have ever produced. hitc.com

Would signing this player harm the potential future West Ham careers of Reece Oxford and Reece Burke?

Talks open over a potential swap deal to replace Simone Zaza with Napoli striker Manolo Gabbiadini.

Italy forward Zaza has flopped for the Hammers since joining on loan from Juventus, failing to score in nine appearances. And boss Bilic is ready to cut his losses as he seeks reinforcements in January. Gabbiadini, who has six caps for Italy, has endured a slow start to the season and Bilic wants to see if his form picks up. West Ham also have the option to send Zaza back to Juventus early for just the £5m loan fee they paid to sign him. dailystar.co.uk

Another day, another Gabbiadini story; except this article says we have now begun talks. What do you think about the Gabbiadini link? Would he be an upgrade on our current list of strikers?

“I was a bit scared to be on the bench” – West Ham starlet recalls first few months at new club.

Speaking to the press, relayed by Le Matin in Switzerland, the youngster explained how adapting to the Premier League demands was the reason for his delay breaking into Bilic’s plans. He said: “I had to go up a gear at training. It’s true that I didn’t really have a choice did I?” Fernandes still has to pinch himself at times when he sees some of the players he gets to play with at training. He explained: “To find myself, at 20, at a club with players as good as Dimitri Payet and André Ayew, I never thought I’d be able to do this. I was a bit scared to be on the bench with the competition around me. And I was very attached to Sion…” sportwitness.co.uk

If he was scared he didn’t show it; what do you think of our young Swiss midfielder?