With the obvious exception of Jarrod Bowen, this is not a West Ham United team particularly overloaded with natural-born goalscorers.
Lucas Paqueta ended a seven-game Premier League drought during Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Newcastle. But, while the Brazil international did score in four successive games earlier on in the campaign, he has not hit double figures since his Lyon days.
Crysencio Summerville made a promise to West Ham back in September, insisting that the supporters could expect to see plenty of key contributions from him in the final third. As it is, the one-year anniversary of his most recent Hammers goal has now come and gone.
Between them, strikers Callum Wilson, Niclas Fullkrug and Callum Wilson have just one to show from a combined 737 minutes.
At youth level, though, no one could accuse Lauris Coggin’s Under-18s side of lacking end product.
West Ham’s youngsters thrashed Ipswich Town 8-2 over the weekend. Centre-back Isaac Thomas scored half of those, a hat-trick of headers a fitting way to cap an already bizarre day in East Anglia.
As for Andre Dike, the England Under-17 international is threatening to make fizzing, left-footed Bowen-esque finishes something of a party piece in claret and blue.
After signing his first professional contract back in June, Academy Manager Kenny Brown highlighted Dike’s improvement in the end-product department.
With five goals in his last six appearances for Coggin’s side, the winger is now threatening to go to another level altogether as he looks to graduate permanently from the U18s to the Under-21s.
Andre Dike channels Jarrod Bowen as West Ham United kid scores another left-footed stunner
In their final match of October, Andre Dike fired West Ham past Aston Villa, and in some style too. Earning himself a nomination for West Ham’s own Goal of the Month award too.
The reigning Under-18 Premier League champions had no answer as the 17-year-old cut in from the right, onto his left boot, and whipped a glorious finish into the top corner.
In that eight-goal shellacking of Ipswich, the teenager repeated the trick with similarly spectacular results.
In defence of the Ipswich left-back, he was quite clearly trying to keep Dike from cutting in. But, like many a Premier League full-back has found eyeball-to-eyeball with Bowen, trying and succeeding are two very different things.
Dike left he and another defender for dead before looping a brilliant strike over a helpless goalkeeper. His second of the day – and his fifth in his last six appearances – was far simpler. But the aforementioned Brown would have been delighted to see Dike pop up inside the six-yard box and pounce.
The captain has scored plenty of stunners in a West Ham shirt, but it is those scrappy tap-ins which turn a very good Premier League forward into one capable of putting up truly great numbers.
“We’re all delighted for Andre,” Brown tells the club’s official website when the ink was drying on Dike’s first pro deal. “He’s been with us for a long time now, and we’ve seen him grow into a mature, intelligent young man.
“He’s got great technical ability, he’s added more dynamism to his game, and there’s more end product in his play now.
“This [improvement in the final third] is a credit to Andre himself, as well as to the staff who work with him day in, day out. He comes in every day eager to improve. He’s well-liked in the dressing room, he’s humble and he carries himself the right way.
“Our aim is to help him push into the U21s set-up this season. He’s got the opportunity and the potential. Now it’s about continuing to work hard and take those next steps.”
Mark Robson lauded Dike after his Under-21 Hammers debut
Dike already has more goals this season than he managed in the whole of 2024/25 [three in 19 games].
Mark Robson handed the West Ham starlet his Under-21 debut in September, too. With Mohamadou Kante, Airidas Golambeckis, Josh Landers, Preston Fearon, Emeka Adiele all making huge progress on the Premier League 2 stage, Dike will be in very good company should his recent glut of goals pave the way for more frequent involvement.
“It was a really good opportunity to get Andre on and give him a taste of U21s football,” Robson said after September’s 3-3 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion.
“Going up against someone like [Brighton’s 28-year-old ‘overage’ player Ben] Barclay, that’s a massive challenge and probably a big ‘wow’ for him because he wouldn’t have faced that sort of player before.”
This is shaping up to be a season full of landmark moments.
