West Ham United had a fantastic 2022/23 season that was rounded off with their historic Europa Conference League win in Prague, and at the halfway point of this season, they look set for another brilliant campaign.
David Moyes has taken his team to sixth place in the Premier League, and they are through to the knockout rounds of the Europa League, with every chance of winning the whole thing.
That said, sometimes the best time to improve a team is when they're flying high, which looks to be what the Irons are planning to do, as the latest player touted for a move to east London could take them to another level and turn Jarrod Bowen into a creative powerhouse in the process: Feyenoord's Santiago Gimenez.
West Ham United transfer news – Santiago Gimenez
According to The Times, the Hammers are on the lookout for a new striker in 2024 and are currently 'tracking' Feyenoord's ridiculously prolific striker, Gimenez.
The publication has revealed that the Mexican international, who has scored 18 league goals this season, is valued at around £30m, although the Dutch side are 'hoping to fend off interest until the summer'.
The player himself, while open to leaving the Netherlands, will only do so if he is guaranteed a starting role at the London Stadium, and while that might be an unrealistic demand for some sides, West Ham's current crop of strikers have not been good enough in recent years, and with Bowen spending most of his career out wide, Moyes should be able to grant Gimenez his wish.
While it might prove a complicated deal to complete, the idea of Gimenez getting on the end of the former Hull City star's chances should be all the convincing the club need to press on.
Santiago Gimenez could supercharge Jarrod Bowen
Aside from Declan Rice, there might not be a modern West Ham player who has had as much of an impact on the club as Bowen has in recent years.
He has scored some massive goals against the league's biggest sides over the last couple of years, but most important of all, he slotted home the winner in Prague last year to give the Irons the first piece of European silverware in their long history.
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This season, Moyes has employed the fan favourite as a striker on multiple occasions, but it is not his natural position, so the arrival of a striker as prolific as Gimenez could allow him to move back out wide and potentially supercharge his creative numbers.
The "Mexican Machine", as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, has been incredibly clinical with his finishing this season, scoring 17 non-penalty league goals from a non-penalty expected goals figure of just 12.7.
While an overperformance of this magnitude won't be sustainable in the Premier League, it is evidence of his outlandishly impressive finishing ability.
In contrast, Bowen's two league assists so far is an underperformance of 0.7 on his expected assists figure, meaning that if he had a number nine as efficient as the "insane" Feyenoord star, as described by u23 scout Antonio Mango, then he could expect his actual assists figure to at around four.
It isn't just his outright goalscoring numbers that are impressive when it comes to Gimenez, though, as the numbers around the goals, such as his shots on target, the goals per shot on target and his goal-creating actions, are all genuinely impressive.
Non-Penalty Goals
17
Non-Penalty Expected Goals
12.7
Shots on Target per 90
2.10
Goals per Shot on Target
0.57
Goal-Creating Actions per 90
0.56
All Stats via FBref for the 2023/24 Domestic Season
Ultimately, if West Ham want to push even further up the table and give the Europa League their best shot this season, then signing the "on fire" Gimenez, as described by Kuilg, for £30m seems like a no-brainer, especially for what he could do for the creative side of Bowen's game.