Could Charlie Austin be the solution to West Ham's striking troubles? [VIDEO]

Over the 22 years that the Premier League has existed, only one player has scored more goals playing for a relegated team than Charlie Austin did for Queens Park Rangers in the 2014-15 season.

It was in 2004-05 that Andrew Johnson scored 21 goals for his doomed Crystal Palace side, a remarkable effort indeed. Johnson’s haul that season was not enough to stave off the drop for the Eagles, and last season, Austin’s 18 goals for Rangers – as lustrous a total, without question – also proved insufficient. In fact, if not for Harry Kane’s stunning season for Spurs, Austin’s total would have made him the highest scoring Englishman in the league, a wonderful achievement for a relegated player, to be sure. With Danny Ings, another young Englishman who plundered well amid his own relegation woes having just about wrapped up a lucrative move to Liverpool, the fact that Austin has not been snapped up already is somewhat of a surprise.

Of course, when our subject is a 25-year old English goalscorer, proven in almost all of the nation’s footballing tiers, there ought to be no shortage of salivating suitors. Austin’s skills are also highly applicable; a rocket of a shot, attached to a specimen of considerable power and gristle, is a tantalising cocktail already. But add in the fact that almost all of his goals came from that treacherous zone just outside the six yard box, the area where intuition and reflex rule, this makes Austin a goalscorer with the mental attributes – poise, anticipation, reactions – that compliment his obvious physical gifts. One need only to see the goal he scored against Southampton in September to realise his remarkable ability to improvise in the box. Austin provided as many assists (five) as Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Mesut Ozil each managed in 14-15. Of the Premier League forwards who took more than 50 shots in the campaign- a list that contains all of the top 10 leading scorers – Austin was the most accurate, ensuring on-target shots 67% of the time. Powerful, intelligent in the box, discriminate with his shooting, selfless when he needs to be; Austin is an undoubted asset.

So, at age 25, and too good to slum it in the Championship, Austin should not stay a Rangers player for long. How many clubs are in need of a man such as he, and can pay the required fee to secure him? QPR have priced Austin in the £10-15 million range, and will not let him go for any less than that, his contract running until 2015. Well, as we said, Liverpool have filled their striking needs with Danny Ings, as well as Brazilian Roberto Firmino. Southampton have Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane on their books, two competent strikers. Besides, the Saints are more concerned with securing a replacement for the certain-to-leave Morgan Schneiderlin (with Yohan Cabaye atop their list). Everton have Romelu Lukaku as their first choice frontman, Spurs likewise with Kane. As the search for a suitor continues down the table, the options begin to thin out. Crystal Palace, perhaps. Stoke City, maybe? Is it possible Swansea might buy another striker? It becomes clear that, of the remaining clubs, few could offer the wage package that West Ham would be able to, and, more pertinently, none are in quite as much need as the Hammers are for proven goalscoring.

New manager Slaven Bilic has wasted little time securing quality, good-value reinforcements. Pedro Obiang is a like-for-like replacement, defensively speaking, for Alex Song (it is unclear whether the former Gunner will return to East London from Barcelona). Dimitri Payet was confirmed a few days ago as the latest arrival, and the indignant manner in which Marseilles lost the battle to retain the Frenchman indicates he is a player the Ligue 1 club rated very highly. But neither will offer goals as their primary contribution, and as goals are the ultimate currency upon which all transactions in football rest, another striker is still needed. It has been long known that Andy Carroll, imposing and unplayable as he can be, seems unable to stay healthy over a 38 game season. Carroll’s virtues are clear as a target man, but it has become impossible to rely on him as a consistent source of goals. Austin is a comparable back-to-goal pivot, an approximate threat in the air, and is a far better runner and dribbler. His physical presence would distract enough for Dimitri Payet, Diafra Sakho, Enner Valencia and Stuart Downing to wreak havoc with their own darting movement, and would give Aaron Cresswell a totally viable crossing target -Austin scored as many headed goals as anyone else in the league last season.

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As it stands, the only true strikers that West Ham have on the books are Sakho, Carroll and, at a stretch, Valencia. An injury to any of them, particularly Sakho, would make scoring very difficult indeed. 18-goal a season strikers do not regularly appear on recently relegated teams looking to lighten the wage load, or make a quick buck selling talented personnel. It is only now creeping into July, but already a huge amount of transfer business has been done. Austin will almost certainly leave QPR in the coming months, and the club that signs him will be securing a player who will only strengthen their team. He does solve a lot of West Ham’s problems, and David Gold and David Sullivan have shown already that they are prepared to firmly support Bilic in the market.