According to reports on Sports Bild, West Ham United and Everton are among five Premier League clubs trying to sign Werder Bremen striker Max Kruse this summer.

What’s the word, then?

Well, the top flight duo – along with Southampton, West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City – have been impressed with the performances of Kruse this season and could be willing to make a move in the coming weeks.

Both the Hammers and the Toffees need at least one striker – and probably more – during the transfer window with the former seemingly unable to rely on Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho and the latter seeing Arouna Kone and Enner Valencia leave, meaning they have few options aside from Romelu Lukaku.

How well has Kruse done this season?

Despite only joining Werder from Wolfsburg last summer and missing the first 10 matches of the Bundesliga season through injury, the 29-year-old bounced back and showed his quality by scoring 15 goals in 23 matches to help his side to an eighth-place finish.

While his spell with Wolfsburg was disappointing, Kruse showed that he has the potential to regularly score goals with Borussia Monchengladbach and Freiburg beforehand after scoring 34 league goals in three seasons for the duo.

Should West Ham be worried about the injury?

Actually, they shouldn’t be.

Even though he missed the opening stages of the season, Kruse missed just one more league match for the rest of the campaign and history suggests that he is regularly fit to start.

In fact, before this season he had missed just four Bunesliga matches in the previous four campaigns.

Would he be a good signing for Everton?

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He would be, yes.

With a decent goalscoring record and experience of European football he could help take some of the pressure off of Lukaku, assuming the Belgian stays.

How much would he cost?

Interestingly, the story suggests that the 29-year-old could be available for just £10.5m this summer as part of a clause that was inserted in his contract when he joined Werder, and that is the reason there is so much interest from English clubs.

What’s the verdict, then?

Well, while there might be names such as Kelechi Iheanacho and Michy Batshuayi that could be more tempting to the likes of West Ham and Everton, they may feel that for the price it could be worth taking a risk on Kruse.

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