West Ham United are looking to continue their impressive start to the season and clinch European qualification for a fourth successive year, having struggled in the Premier League last term but triumphed in the Europa Conference League.
David Moyes' outfit have made a confident start to the domestic season while winning both of their matches in the Europa League, but despite this, Michail Antonio's recent injury has raised a few question marks regarding the club's centre-forward position.
Gianluca Scamacca was signed for £35.5m last summer with a weight of expectation but failed to acclimatise and was described as "miserable" by pundit Chris Sutton, sold back to his Italian homeland in a £27m deal to Atalanta.
Danny Ings was only signed in January in a £15m transfer from divisional rivals Aston Villa, but he is not performing at the requisite standard and, as such, will likely have Moyes questioning his role in the first-team going forward.
Should West Ham ditch Danny Ings?
Once hailed as a "lethal" goalscorer by Sutton, Ings has been a salient name on the Premier League scene for some time now, having started with Burnley before earning a transfer to Liverpool in 2015, though his time at Anfield was hindered by injury, scoring four times from just 25 appearances.
He completed a £20m move to Southampton in 2019 after finishing a season-long loan deal, scoring seven times from 24 outings.
He would enjoy his most fruitful fortunes on the south coast, bagging 46 goals from 100 displays in total and notably netting 25 strikes during the 2019/20 campaign.
At West Ham, he has not been at the races, leading The Athletic's Roshane Thomas to remark, "I don't think this system works for Danny Ings. He's often too isolated up front."
This may well be the case, with the three-cap England international only scoring three times from 30 matches for the Hammers, and having only made five substitute showings in the Premier League this season, yet to start and yet to score, the 31-year-old's time might be running out.
On £125k-per-week, he is not living up to the wage and is a shadow of the man who was once so 'lethal' in the final third; a force to be reckoned with and a destructive centre-forward.
With Antonio out injured for the recent victory over Freiburg in the Europa League, many might've thought that it was the perfect opportunity for Ings to step up the plate, but with Moyes refraining from offering him a starting berth, there is little doubt regarding where he stands in his manager's mind at present.
It might be best for all parties that he moves on as soon as possible; with West Ham surely poised to move for an established centre-forward sooner rather than later, he will only see his role further hampered and may even be detrimental to rising stars such as Divin Mubama, who is striving for a starting spot at the front of the ship himself.
Who could replace Danny Ings?
While the obvious heir to the centre-forward position at West Ham right now is Mubama, the teenage forward is still only in his fledgling phase and must not be thrown into the deep end before learning to tread water.
He has already scored his first goal and supplied his first assist for the Irons' senior set-up, but remains an untested prospect and must be nurtured with care – as, to be fair, Moyes is doing.
Jarrod Bowen impressed as the focal frontman against Freiburg on Thursday night after teeing up Lucas Paqueta for the game's opening goal, but he is undoubtedly best served down the right channel, and, as such, the club's Scottish manager could look to provide the under-fire Maxwel Cornet with a new lease of life at the front of the ship.
Signing from relegated Burnley in 2022 for £17.5m on a five-year contract, the Ivorian winger hasn't hit the ground running by any stretch of the imagination, having only made 25 appearances across all competitions, yet to score and registering five assists.
During the 2021/22 campaign with the Clarets, he previously hit nine Premier League goals from only 21 starting showings, capturing the awe of supporters and leading Alan Shearer to describe him as “dangerous”.
While his maiden season in east London was blighted by an injury that ruled him out from October until March, he didn't prove himself at all on the pitch and only made two starts in the top-flight.
Having only played one minute in the Premier League this season, he has not been entrusted with a prominent role but could now be reborn in a central striking role, replacing the out-of-sorts Ings.
He scored three times when used in the position under Sean Dyche's wing at Burnley, and would certainly offer a different dimension to the side's frontal efforts while allowing Bowen to remain in his preferred role down the right.
As per Sofascore, Cornet offered 1.8 shots and 0.6 key passes per game while at Turf Moor, which surpasses Ings' 1.2 shots and 0.4 key passes per game in the Premier League last season.
He also offers a sense of dynamism that could prove invaluable when looking to shift with Antonio, who is a powerful and brutish striker, and while he offers different skills, he still holds a knack for some "fantastic" finishing, as has been previously noted by Dyche.
The £65k-per-week ace is only 27 years old and is ostensibly suffering from a stark decline in confidence, but with a fresh slate in a new role, he could be transformed and finally start exuding the class that Moyes knows is at his disposal.
And while Ings is still capable of finding the back of the net, his days appear numbered at the London Stadium and a tactical tweak could be vital for sustaining the fluidity over the duration of the campaign.
It would be a bold move, but handing a third Premier League start of his West Ham career to Cornet could be a wise move as far as Moyes is concerned.