Danny Ings is hopeful that a full pre-season with the Hammers will help him to kick on next season.

Throughout his career, Ings has been a prolific goal scorer, however, he’s not quite managed to hit the ground running at West Ham.

There’s been speculation that he may be moved on during the Summer due to his poor form last season, as well as the fact he’s our highest paid player. Whether this happens or not, no one knows yet but if he is to stay then it’s a massive season in deciding his future at the club.

Even at Aston Villa, he was scoring off the bench consistently but unfortunately this didn’t happen when he joined us in January.

Ings has put this down to a lack of time to adapt to the club. “Pre-season is huge, especially for me, and I’ve always benefited from having full pre-season with a new team,” he told WHUFC.com.

“I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully we have a great season.”

In all fairness, Ings has looked on it so far, scoring against Boreham Wood, putting in a good shift against Perth Glory and getting the first goal in yesterday’s 3-2 win against Tottenham.

“I don’t think there is any such thing as a friendly,” he claimed ahead of the clash. “particularly with two London clubs and especially with the fans here as well”.

In all regards, the Pre-season tour in Australia has been a success. West Ham won both their games, scoring 9 goals and giving fans, who might never have got to see their team in person, memories they’ll never forget.

Additionally, according to Ings, the players have “had lots of good experiences and the lads are having fun” in Australia. The squad will soon fly back to East London to meet with the players who have been on international duty, in preparation for the next pre-season game against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday. West Ham will be hopeful of winning their 4th game in a row to keep building momentum ahead of the Premier League season.

By Charlie Bass