You Can Make A Starting XI Of West Ham's Striker Flops... So We Have

Creating a Starting XI of West Ham's Forward Failures

If you haven't heard of West Ham's striker curse before today, then this article will really paint the picture.

There's no official starting point, but he seems to begin upon David Gold and David Sullivan acquiring the club in 2010, and hasn’t left since. Over 50 forwards have joined the ranks in the last 15 years, and the most successful No.9 appointment has realistically been Andy Carroll, a telling fact to say the least…

It's got to the point where the club now seem to rely on converted wingers to score their goals, as we’ve seen with Michail Antonio, Jarrod Bowen, and Marko Arnautovic.

When will it end? Probably never, but in the meantime, Football Park has put together an entire starting eleven of the greatest forward failures to grace the East End. An enjoyable read for all, except Hammers fans!

GK: Gianluca Scamacca

Standing at 6 ft 5, the tallest man in this squad, Scamacca simply has to go in goal purely because he’ll cover the most space!

There was a lot of hype surrounding this signing, and a significant amount of money was spent by West Ham’s standards (£30.5 million, to be exact). Scamacca had just scored 16 goals for Sassuolo and seemed to have both the height and athletic ability to devastate English defences.

Less than a year into his time in East London, it was clear Scamacca wasn’t the man for David Moyes’ Irons side, despite looking like a player who possessed endless ability. Evidently homesick, the Italian left England with a Conference League winners' medal, several knee injections, and THAT goal against Wolves.

RB: Emmanuel Emenike

The former Nigerian international found himself chucked out to the wing a few times during his short West Ham stint, so Emenike will have to make do with a full-back role.

Hammers fans got to spend their last memories of Upton Park watching Emenike attempt to score in the Premier League (breaking news, he didn’t). An unpleasant memory for not only West Ham but also Blackburn Rovers fans as well, seeing as his only two goals in claret and blue came in an FA Cup tie against them. To no surprise, the clause to make his West Ham contract permanent was not activated.

Emenike had a journeyed career, but gained more attention from KSI’s FIFA 13 content than his performances on the pitch.

CB: Evan Ferguson

As one of two men who stand at 6 ft 2 in this lineup, Ferguson will be trying his luck at the back, seeing as he hasn’t scored in club football since October 2024.

Ferguson’s starting spot in the Irish national team is now under scrutiny thanks to a certain Troy Parrott. He also consistently struggled to find a place in West Ham’s starting eleven during his few months on loan in the first half of 2025.

It’s hard to believe that Brighton turned down a £50 million offer from Manchester United for Ferguson two years ago, and his time at West Ham proves that the Red Devils probably got away with one in this instance.

CB: Niclas Füllkrug

The only man in this list still at the club (thank god), Fullkrug spent time working with Ferguson during the famed Graham Potter era, presenting himself as the perfect centre-back partner.

Fullkrug travelled to the London stadium off the back of appearing in a Champions League final, scoring twice for Germany at the Euros, and hitting double digits in the Bundesliga for three straight seasons. On paper, if anyone was going to be a success, it was big ol’ Niclas.

Once again, it has not worked out, and the German looks to be on his way out, another waste of a transfer fee nearing the £30 million mark.

LB: Danny Ings

Ings played at full-back during his academy days in Netley, Hampshire, and therefore is a brilliant candidate for the left-back role.

Another Conference League champion, Ings is the only man on this list who had previously proven his quality in the Premier League across multiple seasons. Yet, he would go on to score four Premier League goals for West Ham in two and a half seasons, 50% of those coming in a 4-0 win over Nottingham Forest a month into his career at the London Stadium.

The now 33-year-old is evidence that the West Ham striker curse is well and truly real; after all, we cannot forget that 22-goal season he had at Southampton in 2019/20.

RM: Lucas Perez

Perez often played on the right flank, especially during his time in Greece, making him a fitting right midfield option in this classic 4-4-2 formation.

The Spaniard was one of Manuel Pellegrini’s first signings at the club, and after proving he was a relatively underwhelming talent in the English game at Arsenal, he went and doubled down on that statement in East London.

Some might remember him for his goal in an 8-0 thrashing over Macclesfield Town (who am I kidding), others for his Premier League brace against Cardiff, but the overwhelming majority will hardly remember his time there at all.

CM: Simone Zaza

Zaza would’ve benefited from taking his disastrous penalty against Germany in Euro 2016 from the halfway line; maybe then it would’ve stood a chance at falling back down into the net. That’s why the Italian is our midfield general today.

The former Juventus man arrived at West Ham on loan shortly after that penalty was taken in 2016, at the peak of his ridicule. The Hammers coughed up £4.3 million just to sign the forward on loan, and after eight Premier League appearances and zero goals, he was sent packing largely due to a knee injury.

Although perhaps the knee injury was more of an excuse to get Zaza out of the club, especially seeing as they would’ve had to pay £17.5 million and bring the striker in permanently had he made 10 Premier League appearances for the club…

CM: Albian Ajeti

The Swiss sensation (said no one ever) failed to dazzle at West Ham, after his transfer from Basel, so hopefully he will cause more hassle in this team's midfield (I always saw myself as somewhat of a poet).

Ajeti was another Pellegrini signing, bringing promise after winning the Swiss Super League golden boot in 2018/19. However, he was behind both Sebastian Haller and Michail Antonio in the pecking order and fell further out of favour once Moyes returned to the club.

Since his short time at the London Stadium, Ajeti has won domestic doubles with Celtic and Basel and is still only 28 years old!

LM: Ashley Fletcher

Another one-season wonder that West Ham fans have had the joy of watching. Fletcher has started at left wing on a handful of occasions during his illustrious EFL career, so he takes the left midfield spot.

David Gold & Sullivan took a different approach back in 2016, opting to sign a promising talent from the famed Manchester United academy, in hopes he would break the striker curse.

To cut a long story short, Fletcher made three starts for the club, scoring one goal against the Red Devils of all people before he was banished to the barren north (Middlesbrough).

ST: Jonathan Calleri

If there's one man who does NOT deserve to be a starting striker, it's Calleri, but he's somehow found his way into the front line.

Many look back on the summer of 2016 fondly, but for West Ham fans, it was a shocker of a transfer window. In preparation to take part in their second straight European campaign, having failed to reach the group stages the year before, West Ham signed Zaza, Fletcher, Calleri, AND Toni Martinez (very much the one who got away from this list).

How many goals did those four forwards score that season? Two.

No wonder Astra Giurgiu eliminated them again.

In all fairness, the Argentinian has been quite the goalscorer in his native country and Brazil, and has a career total of 142 goals at the age of 32. It’s just a shame that only one of those came whilst playing for West Ham.

ST: Jordan Hugill

Hugill joins Calleri to form one of the deadliest striking duos the British Isles have seen.

The signing of Hugill indicates how far West Ham has come in their business, as seven years ago, they were signing a 26-year-old who had scored 20 Championship goals in 71 games across 18 months for Preston North End. Not bad, but hardly a world beater, it's fair to say.

It took 22 minutes in the second half of the 2017/18 season for West Ham to decide Hugill was not cut out for the Premier League, sending him on loan to join Fletcher at Middlesbrough in the Championship.

Just like that, he would never grace the London Stadium’s pitch again…