West Ham's decision to go after Leeds United's Joel Piroe is one they could regret

[p]However, it would've felt like a defeat for the East Londoners given that they were 2-0 up with six minutes left to play, before allowing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/flemming-zian/KCdpVxYS/"]Zian Flemming[/a] to bag a late brace.[/p][h2]Joel Piroe the next through the door at West Ham?[/h2][p]The positive aspect of the draw was that it was a seventh game in a row unbeaten, taking into account the Irons' pre-season friendlies and the final game of last season against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/leeds/tUxUbLR2/"]Leeds United[/a].[/p][p]Nuno Espirito Santo will certainly be expecting more from his squad when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/charlton/fXf5mQ7t/"]Charlton[/a] visit the London Stadium for the Hammers' next league fixture.[/p][embed guid="a13f3954-09ef-49a8-95ac-0381afe658f6" url="https://x.com/JacobsBen/status/2089400672898716086" social-type="twitter" /][p]Perhaps the level of performance could be put down to what's been happening behind the scenes.[/p][p]West Ham have only recently signed [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solomon-manor/v5LRVtuB/"]Manor Solomon[/a], one of the scorers on Sunday, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/veltman-joel/hIP2ytZb/"]Joel Veltman[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/engels-arne/K4dXXq9J/"]Arne Engels[/a], and there are strong rumours that Leeds' [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/piroe-joel/dUHjDCt9/"]Joel Piroe[/a] could be the next player to be signed by the club.[/p][h2]Departures were mainly justifiable[/h2][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/disasi-axel/Q32vx71U/"]Axel Disasi[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/traore-adama-ardile/SvIyvzko/"]Adama Traore[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/wilson-callum/YwKMvtoh/"]Callum Wilson[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/potts-freddie/t2knkPDI/"]Freddie Potts[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/summerville-crysencio/EaRET7t6/"]Crysencio Summerville[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fernandes-mateus/rFdshPHI/"]Mateus Fernandes[/a] have all departed, and it looks as if [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fullkrug-niclas/zBydyE1a/"]Niclas Fullkrug[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/todibo-jean-clair/E10MWYEe/"]Jean-Clair Todibo[/a] will be the next players to follow them out of the exit door.[/p][p]Given the expectation that Nuno and the board will still be looking to make moves in the transfer market before it closes, until things settle down in this respect, perhaps supporters of the club need to give the benefit of the doubt to those making such decisions.[/p][embed guid="e731b0d1-af03-4913-a2f2-0f1f12b2a11d" url="https://x.com/WestHam/status/2084535305626059052" social-type="twitter" /][p]Though the sale of Potts may have been a hard one for the London Stadium faithful to swallow, they can't begrudge the club for cashing in on both Summerville and Fernandes.[/p][p]Nor can they argue that losing Fullkrug and Todibo would be anything but a positive decision from the club.[/p][p]The French defender has refused to play for West Ham since the end of last season after a huge bust-up with Nuno, whilst the German attacker can hardly be said to have set the world alight since signing.[/p][embed guid="6fd2e747-5f15-4b8d-8ae4-7a1ce027d78d" url="https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/2043936036204753091?lang=en" social-type="twitter" /][p]In the 29 official appearances he made before being shipped out on loan to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ac-milan/8Sa8HInO/"]AC Milan[/a], he scored just three goals and provided two assists, which is hardly the return of an elite marksman.[/p][p]No wonder the Hammers are happy for Fullkrug to travel to Germany for a medical and potential loan transfer to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/werder-bremen/Ig1f1fy3/"]Werder Bremen[/a].[/p][h2]Where would Piroe play?[/h2][p]He'll likely be replaced by Piroe if all goes according to plan, though even that move could be considered perhaps an ill-thought-out one by the East Londoners.[/p][p]The 27-year-old is unlikely to want to make the move down south unless he has guarantees of playing time, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/castellanos-valentin/ET4rsqIP/"]Taty Castellanos[/a] has already established himself as the club's preferred centre-forward.[/p][image alt="Joel Piroe's xG map - Premier League 2025/26" id="2b8cec7b-e8f7-40a1-b9f1-855bb350f32e" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="4e88f95d-675a-4e9d-bd91-1cdd60e842e1" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]Even if one takes the view that Piroe isn't a centre-forward in the traditional sense, nor has he proven to be an able No.10 whilst at Elland Road.[/p][p]He was on the bench for 22 of Leeds' fixtures last season, and in only two matches did he play the full 90 minutes.[/p][image alt="Joel Piroe's radar graphic - Premier League 2025/26" id="bf5b138c-1355-4bf9-b0cd-7d253634dd51" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="601361eb-dd30-4081-ae8e-66ff18c71d26" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]In fact, Daniel Farke only saw fit to play him for a total of 572 minutes across the season, during which time he scored just a single goal.[/p][p]He was only injured for one week of the campaign too, so the fact that he wasn't selected so often should ring alarm bells in East London.[/p][h2]Decision makers can't afford another mistake[/h2][p]If Nuno was expecting to use him as a target man given his height (6ft 1in), he should probably think again, too, as Piroe won only nine of his 34 aerial duels last season. [/p][p]Of those Leeds players that contested at least 50 ground one-on-ones, the 27-year-old had by far the worst return there, just 33.33% success.[/p][image alt="Joel Piroe's career stats" id="cba2c2a6-661c-49b1-a10c-eb5303191dbc" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="8b4da29f-5344-4b39-a62a-a4837e52e61d" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]Whoever has made the decision at West Ham to go after Piroe needs to look at themselves in the mirror because, for any number of reasons, it looks to be another blunder-in-waiting.[/p][p]With major shareholder Daniel Kretinsky also having to deal with a potential share grab from Amanda Staveley and PCP Partners off the pitch, there still appears to be far too much turmoil at a club which has to get itself on an even keel quickly in order to get in position to fight for immediate promotion.[/p][infobox id="8a8311c3-81b3-440e-8b49-36091db073d1" /]