West Ham United are one of the sides who are showing an interest in potentially signing Folarin Balogun in the summer transfer window.
Do West Ham need a new striker?
Reports are now suggesting that the Hammers could be open to offers for their Italian striker, Gianluca Scamacca, this summer after his poor first season at the London Stadium.
It is also believed the Irons could be set to accept a significant financial loss on the striker who was bought for £35m and could be sold for as little as £22m in the summer.
And it has certainly been a disappointing campaign for Scamacca who has only been able to return a total of three goals in the Premier League (via Transfermarkt).
Amid the Italian's struggles, the Hammers have recorded the fifth-lowest goals return in the Premier League with just 27 goals scored from their 29 games.
But it does seem as if the Londoners are looking to make some additions over the summer with reinforcements up top on the radar.
And speaking on the Talking Transfers podcast, insider Graeme Bailey has claimed they could look to Arsenal for their young prospect, Balogun:
(44:40) "He's got a lot of interest from around the league. A lot of the teams like a Leicester, Wolves, West Ham being mentioned. You'd think that would be his sort of level at the minute, but the problem that Balogun's got is he's going to refuse to go out on loan again."
Would Balogun be a good fit for West Ham?
The 21-year-old has spent the 2022/23 campaign away from Arsenal on a season-long loan deal with Will Still's Reims in Ligue 1.
And it has certainly been a loan deal which has benefitted the youngster who has provided a stunning return of 18 goals and three assists in his 28 league appearances (via Transfermarkt).
To put that into context, the 21-year-old has provided one more goal in Ligue 1 than Scamacca, Michail Antonio and Danny Ings have across all competitions this season.
Some may caveat this by stating it has been done in the French league rather than the Premier League, however, in less than 900 minutes of Championship action last season he returned six goal involvements (via Transfermarkt).
Placing Balogun as the lone striker in the West Ham side for next season could put a lot of pressure on his shoulders, but he is someone who clearly wants to develop himself.
There are reports suggesting he is already considering changing his citizenship to play for the United States after being snubbed by Gareth Southgate for the latest England side.
The £30k-per-week ace has been labelled as "a goal-scoring machine" by US journalist Garlan Gillen and he is certainly showing signs of that this season.
The youngster has already returned more goals in Ligue 1 than the likes of Neymar and Lionel Messi this season with Kylian Mbappe just one goal ahead of him.
However, whether West Ham feel he can transform those goals into the Premier League may be another matter with the Gunners reportedly putting a £35m price tag on the striker.
