West Ham were heavily linked with signing Wout Weghorst in January of this year and will perhaps be regretting missing out on the giant striker after his phenomenal World Cup display against Argentina.
The Hammers were said to be keen on bringing the former Wolfsburg man to the Premier League last season but would eventually lose out to Burnley in the race to sign him.
While his time with the Clarets proved to be unsuccessful, as his two top-flight goals weren’t enough to keep the Lancashire side from dropping into the Championship, he showed exactly what he is capable of in Friday’s World Cup quarter-final.
With Louis van Gaal’s side trailing 2-0 against Argentina in Qatar, the 6 foot 6 forward was sent on as the Dutch reverted to a route one style of play, which proved extremely effective in them taking the game to extra time and penalties.
Weghorst first met Steven Berghuis’ sumptuous cross with a brilliant header to make the game 2-1, before he benefitted from an incredible free-kick routine in the final moments to equalise, beating Emiliano Martinez with a well-taken finish.
Although the Netherlands would eventually lose on penalties, despite the 30-year-old also tucking his own penalty away with aplomb, he was undoubtedly the “hero” – in the words of journalist Alex Brotherton – for Oranje as they narrowly missed out on a spot in the semi-finals.
It is perhaps no surprise that he was to have such a big impact from the bench, given his impressive form in Turkey this season, where he is currently on loan with Besiktas.
The Burnley man has six goals and four assists in just 13 league appearances thus far, averaging a superb 7.35 rating from WhoScored for his performances.
He has also enjoyed prolific spells with AZ Alkmaar and Wolfsburg in the past, so there is no reason why he couldn’t have been a success at the London Stadium had he joined the Hammers over Burnley.
Considering how desperate Moyes was for an alternative to Michail Antonio last season amid the run to the Europa League semi-final, the Scottish manager will perhaps regret not bringing the “crazy” Weghorst – as dubbed by Admir Mehmedi – to the east London side earlier this year.