Leeds United confirmed this morning that Joel Piroe has left the club.

As expected, Piroe has joined West Ham on an initial loan deal. The Hammers are said to have an obligation to buy the forward should they win promotion to the Premier League.

Initially, this fee was reported to be £15million. However, Sky Sports’ Zinny Boswell has since reported that the total package for Piroe is worth £12million. This includes the loan fee. The obligation fee is understood to be £8million.

So with the Piroe deal now confirmed, it’s fair to say that West Ham have made a costly mistake when it comes to their new signing.

It’s been funny to see the West Ham fans post all the compilations of Piroe scoring goals for us all over social media and getting excited.

As Leeds fans, we know the truth. Unless Piroe scored, in 99% of the games he played for us, he didn’t contribute at all.

He doesn’t possess the physical attributes to lead the line effectively, even at Championship level. He’s slow and cannot really press, but he is an extremely gifted finisher.

I believe that Piroe will score anywhere north of 15 goals in the Championship for West Ham this season. But it will only be a matter of time before West Ham fans get frustrated about what the striker fails to bring to the table.

In all likelihood, West Ham will go up. But the second they do, they will need to fork out another £8million for Piroe. This is whilst also searching for his replacement.

If they go back into the Premier League with him as their first-choice striker, it will be a recipe for disaster.

£12million for Joel Piroe is still an exceptional piece of business from the 49ers

The 49ers have rightly come under scrutiny for the fees, or lack of them, they have received when offloading out-of-favour Leeds players.

But after paying an initial £10.5million for Piroe, to turn a profit on this sum after the lacklustre season he had last year is just unbelievable.

West Ham going up is all but a formality. With Piroe added to their squad too, this only increases their chances of promotion even further.

Now, all attention from the 49ers should be on bringing in another striker. One who, unlike Piroe, can actually impact games for us in the Premier League.

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