West Ham's Joint Chairman David Sullivan told the world before the end of last season that his club wanted a 20-goal-a-season striker.

He also vowed to spend £30m on such a player, a record transfer fee by some way for the East London club.

If Sullivan and Co. want a striker capable to netting 20+ goals a season, then Michy Batshuayi could better his 17 in Ligue 1 last year with the Hammers, but their number one preferred target, Alexandre Lacazette, did score 21 and finished as second highest scorer in the division.

But it's never easy buying strikers. Teams spend millions in the hope that the player will hit the ground running, adapting to the different pressures and the extremes that playing in the Premier League permeates.

If the player takes time to adapt or never adapts, then everyone suffers and the end result is the club selling the player on and making a loss. But that is football, and that's why we love it.

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It's the what if's, the excitement induced by the hope of a star name before reality kicks in on a cold December afternoon, when you are wondering why you bought this player when your grandmother could do better.

In West Ham's case, instead of splashing out the millions that have been expressed in many reports on just the one striker, maybe there is a case to be heard for buying three for the cost of one star name.

The fact is that if West Ham, as is likely to happen, lose Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia this summer, they will only have one striker.

Andy Carroll seems to be staying, but will have to sort out his injury prone career. Emmanuel Emenike has returned to Turkey and Elliot Lee has been released. So on the basis that the Hammers had four strikers, they need three others to replace those gone or about to depart.

There are three very good strikers in Europe at the moment and Bilic's West Ham have been linked to two of them, albeit in rumour.

Wissam Ben Yedder at Toulouse scored 17 with a team that finished 17th in Ligue 1 and narrowly avoided relegation. At £6m, according to Transfermarkt.com, this could be good business for The Hammers and we know just how much they admire the French leagues when searching for talent.

Another player to admire and is potentially a promising striker is AZ Alkmaar's Vincent Janssen. He scored 27 goals in the Eredivisie, which is six ahead of the much mentioned Arkadiusz Milik.

The newly capped Dutch international is yet another striker that promises much and could be worth investing in. Many clubs have already been alerted to his talents, but valued at £12m, Spurs are already snapping at his heels.

And lastly Villarreal's Senegalese sensation Cedric Bakambu could be the surprise man unleashed upon the Premier League that West Ham are looking for.

Netting 12 La Liga goals in your first season is no mean feat, but it's his power, his pace and he is clinical in front of goal that catches the eye. Apparently, £9m would get your man, especially as he already has Champions League and Europa League experience.

With Carroll and three further strikers costing around £27m, West Ham will have options with proven goal scorers without relying on just the one and then shoring up the other places with ineffective, end of career type strikers on loan deals.

They are all 25-years-old or younger, all possess potential and, other than Ben Yedder, are full internationals and there would be few demands made upon the club in terms of signing.

Three for the price of one. Surely this is the perfect scenario?

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