In a much-needed search for a forward in January, the Hammers have begun to take an interest in Argentine striker Joaquín Panichelli.

He has a cool name, but who is Joaquín Panichelli?

The former River Plate star signed for Strasbourg in the Summer this year for a €17 million fee from Spanish signed Alavés, where he had been since 2024.

His name might not have been heard many times across his career so far, but this season in France, he’s having one of his best campaigns, in which he’s played 19 games across all competitions, scoring 10 goals so far and at the current trajectory, he’s expected to break the 20+ goal mark. 

It appears that the forward has regained confidence as time has passed, seeing as during the 2023/24 season, the forward would unfortunately suffer from an ACL injury, placing him out for the season and ultimately ruined his time at Alaves

Despite this, due to his impressive qualities that he posses, the Spanish side still made a pretty profit on him, whilst Strasbourg are now reaping the reward for taking the risk, but they do understand that his time could be cut short, given the amount of clubs that are interested. 

Currently, numerous Premier League sides are interested in the forward, the two predominantly being Aston Villa and West Ham, but there is also an underlying interest from Barcelona, which could cause other clubs to try and move quicker. 

In terms of his profile, it is understandable why a lot of clubs will be chasing him. He is a classic forward who can hold up the ball well and excels at scoring goals, which is exactly what a lot of clubs want, but in the Hammers’ case, he’s an ideal fit for Nuno and suits his style to a tee, hence why we hold interest in him. 

He is on a long-term contract, and given the price that the French side paid for him, he certainly would cost a significant amount which at this moment in time, is uncertain whether the Hammers could afford, unless funds from the potential sale of Füllkrug and others could help us out.