Two of West Ham’s alleged top January targets have suffered injuries while away at AFCON, making it unlikely they will join the Hammers.

West Ham’s long hunt for a striker has been made even more desperate over the past week. Antonio, Bowen and Paqueta all suffered injuries that could keep them sidelined for a month or more while Kudus is set to join Ghana for AFCON after he had a slight strain himself.

David Moyes and his team have been lining up potential No.9s for a number of months, now they will be forced to move with more urgency. Unfortunately though, two of those targets may be unable to join this month.

Serhou Guirassy has taken the Bundesliga by storm this season, scoring 17 goals in just 14 matches. He was set to be Guinea’s star player this tournament, but he limped off injured in a friendly against Nigeria. It is unknown how long he will be unavailable for – it did not look good though.

Then there is Senegal’s Boulaye Dia who has been struggling with injuries as it is. He has withdrawn completely from the competition which, you would assume, means he will be sidelined until well after the competition ends in February.

Understandably, both will be heartbroken that they have picked up an injury just before such an open ended competition. Their absence could have a massive effect on how well their respective countries do in the tournament. 

From a West Ham point of view, it is infuriating that players they are so interested in would not be able to pass a fitness test. To add insult to injury,  another top target in Timo Werner has gone to rivals Tottenham, meaning that the list keeps getting smaller and smaller.

Fortunately, our Irons have plenty of other strikers they could sign this January. We are not in panic buy territory yet, but we could really do without any more of our top targets getting injured or moving before we even put a bid in.