West Ham 'concerned' about summer striker transfer amid double injury boost

West Ham have been dealt a potential setback in their bid to land a frontman this summer, although there is some good news elsewhere. The Hammers have this weekend off having been eliminated from the FA Cup, travelling to Dubai for a warm-weather training camp.

The period will be important for Graham Potter to get some more of his ideas across, given it’s always tricky for a manager to take over so deep into a season. It will also allow the club’s fitness staff to make progress with some of the injured players, and that is proving to be the case.

Injury boosts

West Ham are currently without two important forwards in Michail Antonio and Niclas Fullkrug. In the case of the former, the Hammers know they will be without Antonio for some time due to the injuries he suffered in a car crash, but he has been invited to be part of the trip to Dubai and has travelled with the team.

Antonio won’t be doing any extreme work at this stage, but he will be making some progress in his recovery during the trip. The forward will walk out at London Stadium and will be given a guard of honour by the fans later this month, ahead of the Leicester City clash.

Meanwhile, Fullkrug is set to miss a few weeks, with the Hammers boss saying: “It’s fair to say it's a significant one. When a player pulls up like that you know something fairly serious has happened.

“It’s still early in terms of full diagnosis but nevertheless a significant one, a number of weeks. Months? A number of weeks probably adds up to months, yes. So yeah, I would say that. Crysencio felt something after about 35 minutes and finished the first half, but probably not at 100 per cent. It's touch and go but probably erring towards the negative at the moment, but we'll see.”

The good news is that Fullkrug has also travelled to Dubai as he looks to step up his recovery from his latest setback.

David transfer concern

On the transfer front, the Hammers know they must go with what they have for the rest of the season having snapped up Evan Ferguson on loan from Brighton. But they will already be looking ahead to the summer, and they have regularly been linked with a move for Lille striker Jonathan David, who is out of contract this summer.

The Canadian frontman has been prolific for Lille, scoring 83 goals in 165 league games, while he has 31 goals in 59 games on the international stage. The Hammers are said to be interested in offering him a pre-contract, but according to GiveMeSport, West Ham and Tottenham, who are reportedly set to go head-to-head for the signing, are both concerned they will miss out on a deal due to interest from elsewhere. It’s reported that the push to find David a new club from the player’s end died down during January, and the London clubs are said to fear that means a deal may have been agreed with another club.

Your next West Ham read, West Ham plot summer swoop for bagsman loved by Thierry Henry