by Reece Brown (@whubrownie)

With news of Niclas Fullkrug once again facing a spell on the sidelines, rumours suggest that Nuno Espirito Santo is keen to reunite with Nottingham Forest star Chris Wood.

This should come as no surprise to fans, Wood managed 20 goals in the Premier League last season under Nuno at the City Ground, firing his side to Europa League football. To make that feat more impressive, only Erling Haaland, Alexander Isak and Mo Salah managed more goals over the 38 game season.

The 6 ‘3 New Zealander perfectly fits into Nuno’s preferred profile for a number nine. It is clear that the 51 year old prefers a more traditional ‘big man’ up top, opting for Niclas Fullkrug over Callum Wilson in both of his games for The Hammers so far, and notably Harry Kane, Raul Jimenez and Karim Benzema at Spurs, Wolves and Al-Ittihad respectively.

With West Ham’s slow start to the season in front of goal, it feels like a smart decision by Nuno to bring a player who has thrived under his management in previous seasons. Another factor for bolstering the strikeforce at the London Stadium is due to injury worries. As mentioned above, Niclas Fullkrug has suffered another injury, and it almost feels as though an injury is always round the corner with Callum Wilson. 

If Jarrod Bowen was to miss time through injury, West Ham’s only option to lead the line would be 20 year old Callum Marshall. With another relegation battle looming in East London, the addition of an experienced goalscorer in Chris Wood could provide crucial goals in The Hammers quest to climb the table.

However, if Chris Wood is going to be in claret and blue come January, it will be a tough task for West Ham. Nottingham Forest aren’t going to let their top goalscorer walk for a small fee, especially to a team close to them in the table. On top of this, the Reds are playing Europa League football this season, something that the Hammers can’t offer the 33 year old.

West Ham could explore other options, like the out-of-favour Joshua Zirkzee at Old Trafford, or Al-Ahli’s Ivan Toney, who looks to catch Thomas Tuchel’s eye with the World Cup next summer. Both players seem more realistic, as David Sullivan is likely to prefer a loan signing, which feels unlikely to be enough to lure Chris Wood to East London.