West Ham United want to sign Joel Pohjanpalo as Michail Antonio replacement, four new signings mooted

West Ham are in the hunt to sign Venezia striker Joel Pohjanpalo as a replacement for exit-linked Michail Antonio, according to The Mirror.

The newspaper reported online on Wednesday (2 August) that Antonio, 33, wants to quit the London Stadium this summer “to explore pastures new”.

It is understood that 28-year-old Finland international Pohjanpalo is a potential replacement with West Ham confident they’ll be able to sign four new players before the transfer window closes on 1 September.

Pohjanpalo’s name isn’t exactly one that rolls of the tongue but those who have been keeping an eye on Italian football over the last 12 months will have seen the Helsinki-born striker scoring bags of goals for Venezia.

Last season, the former Bayer Leverkusen striker scored 19 goals and supplied seven assists in 38 appearances across all competitions for Venezia.

Unfortunately for him and for his club, Venezia missed out on promotion to Serie A due to a Serie B play-off loss to Cagliari, in which Pohjanpalo wore the captain’s armband.

The 63-times Finland international is a tall, powerful forward who loves to score headers and poachers’ finishes.

“Joel is a goalscorer. He fits our requirements perfectly, is physically robust and has proven his nose for goal in the past,” said Union Berlin sporting director Oliver Ruhnert, via the Bundesliga website, two years ago.

Pohjanpalo is, unfortunately, a bit of a journeyman.

Venezia are the ninth club of his professional career, including loan spells. He’s previously represented the likes of HJK Helsinki, Fortuna Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Union Berlin and Caykur Rizespor before joining Venezia last year.

He’s been impressive in Italy’s second tier but can this physical forward replicate those performances as a replacement for Antonio in the Premier League?

It seems unlikely.

In other West Ham United news, Dharmesh Sheth has issued an update on a “compromise” between Southampton and the Irons for James Ward-Prowse.