West Ham United have gone through this latest Premier League season with Michail Antonio as their only predominant centre-forward.

Having sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax back in the 2021 January transfer window, the Hammers have not been able to bring in a replacement striker.

Another attacker that the east London club sold in recent memory is Marko Arnautovic.

After scoring 22 goals in 65 appearances for West Ham across all competitions, the Austrian moved to China in the 2019 summer transfer window.

Now that the upcoming summer transfer window is on the horizon, it seems as though the London Stadium outfit have the chance to bring a new version of Arnautovic to the club and add a bit of depth to their attack.

According to journalist Christian Falk, West Ham are interested in signing Union Berlin and former Liverpool striker Taiwo Awoniyi.

With 40 appearances under his belt for the German club across all competitions so far this season, the 24-year-old has found the net 18 times and provided four assists.

This shows how much of a prolific goalscoring threat he is becoming and backs up why he was described as a "dangerous" player by Steffen Baumgart.

In comparison to Arnautovic, who has scored 12 goals in 29 Serie A appearances for his current club Bologna this season, Awoniyi has had just two more shots on target than the former Hammers star as well as the same number of big chances.

This highlights just how similar the duo are in terms of their prowess in front of goal.

The 24-year-old, however, has been able to rack up a higher average of shots on target per 90 minutes (1.2) in this campaign, showing that he is more clinical in terms of his attempts at goal than the Bologna attacker (0.96).

It isn't just in terms of offensive prowess where the pair are similar, however, with the duo progressing the ball at a similar rate too. Arnautovic has registered progressive passing yardage of 53.7 per 90 and 28.1 progressive carries per 90 minutes with the ball at his feet.

Awoniyi, in comparison, has managed 54.4 progressive passing yards and 24.1 progressive carries. Furthermore, they have both completed 77% of their short passes throughout 2021/22 via FB Ref.

With all of this in mind, securing a deal for Awoniyi should be at the top of GSB's priority list when it comes to incoming transfers this summer.

Having a reported price tag of £21m, this could be a great piece of business if the east London club were able to get their hands on the former Liverpool starlet and he's able to continue his development as a deadly goalscorer.

In other news: WHU plot bid for 42-cap ace with an “instinct for goals”, he's better than Antonio