[ad_pod ]

West Ham United would send out a serious message to the rest of the Premier League if they manage to secure the services of Maxi Gomez from Celta Vigo this month.

BBC Sport claim that the Hammers are considering whether to trigger the striker's £43.3m release clause before the end of the January transfer window, at which point they would loan him back to the Spanish outfit for the rest of the campaign.

The Chalkboard

Gomez arrived at Celta from Uruguayan outfit Defensor Sporting in the summer of 2017 and the centre-forward has proved to be a fine addition for the La Liga club.

Check out the video below to see Pl>ymaker FC's American Soccer Fan give his take on all six 'field goals' in West Ham v Burnley...

Indeed, Gomez has managed 27 goals and 10 assists in 58 appearances for Celta, including nine goals in 18 La Liga appearances this term.

Standing at 6ft 1in, Gomez can certainly handle himself and he could have a huge impact at West Ham moving forward.

Indeed, the thought of the Uruguay international operating alongside the likes of Felipe Anderson, Samir Nasri, Manuel Lanzini and potentially even Marko Arnautovic will be an extremely exciting one for the West Ham fans.

Breaking the club's transfer record once again would also be another indication of the club's intent moving forward, after an underwhelming start to life at the London Stadium.

Could Gomez play with Arnautovic?

Arnautovic has revealed that he will be staying at West Ham this month but his future beyond the end of the season - when Gomez would arrive should the Irons loan him back to Celta Viga - remains unclear.

Nonetheless, Arnautovic has played through the middle for West Ham but operated in a wider position for Stoke City and is capable of turning out in a number of areas in the final third. Gomez, although mainly a target man, also moves quite well and is clever enough to link with Arnautovic.

At the same time, Manuel Pellegrini has used a 4-4-2 formation eight times in the Premier League this season according to Whoscored and initially favoured a similar setup at Manchester City, utilising Alvaro Negredo as Sergio Aguero's strike partner to great effect.

So, although there is an understandable assumption that Gomez is being targeted as Arnautovic's replacement as claimed by The Guardian - which makes delaying his move to the summer convenient for both West Ham and Celta Vigo, who are fighting relegation - there is the potential for them to play alongside each other in what would be a fearsome strike partnership.

That, however, would appear to depend on Arnautovic staying beyond the summer. At this moment in time, that feels unlikely.