The Hammers coach has confirmed that his club West Ham United are indeed interested in signing Wilfried Bony, as they are short of attacking options up front. Slaven Bilic made his admiration clear over Bony, and with record signing, Andre Ayew ruled out for a minimum of four months, West Ham United are lacking quality goalscorers.
In last season’s campaign, their leading scorer was Dmitri Payet, a midfielder, and Bilic knows that is one area where the team can do with more options and develop further.
While Bony has not been meted the same treatment as Joe Hart, but he was still omitted from Tuesday night’s Champions League squad against Steaua Bucharest. The Ivorian, arrived in the Premier League with Swansea City, before his big money move to Manchester City.
His career has stalled at City as he made only 26 appearances in the league last season, scoring only 4 league goals.
Bony will probably be first choice at West Ham as the team lack strikers. To add to Bilic’s woes, Andy Carroll has also been sidelined with a knee problem sustained in the 1-1 draw at Astra Giurgiu of Romania in the first leg of their Europa League play-off last week.
Bilic speaking ahead of the second leg of the tie to be held in the Olympic Stadium also showed interest in the Italian striker Simone Zaza. Zaza plays for Italian giants Juventus and has been a player of interest for West Ham United.
Slaven Bilic acknowledged the club’s interest in Wifried Bony and said that Bony was an ‘option’. Bony is also a striker who is physical enough to win the first ball and holds up play well, and fits perfectly in West Ham’s style of play.
Last season, a majority of the goals for the Hammers came from Antonio, Lanzini and Noble, who were quick to the second ball.
Understandably, Bilic would prefer a loan move for the Ivorian international, given all the parties involved reach an agreement. A loan move would make sense to all parties – Bony gets playing time and West Ham get a quality player minus the transfer fee.
Back in 2013-14, BBC listed Bony as one of the signings to watch out for. He followed up on that promise and made rapid progress before his big move to Manchester City.
Bilic will hope that the Ivorian does opt for the Hammers, and he can recapture the form that made him such a threat at Swansea City.
