Mitroglou signing leaves door open for West Ham to sign Belgian striker

Juan Mata may quite rightly be regarded in many circles as the best signing of the January transfer window, but Fulham certainly seem to have punched above their weight to secure the services of Konstantinos Mitroglou.

Mitroglou has scored 14 league goals in just nine starts for Olympiakos and also helped himself to a Champions League hat-trick against Anderlecht.

It is certainly a risk for Fulham to shell out around £12.5m for the Greece striker, but they average less than a goal a game in the Premier League this season and are in the bottom three in the table.

Fulham’s odds are now 10/11 to stay up this season.

West Ham were one of the clubs beaten to Mitroglou’s signature, but with Fulham now boosting their striker ranks, the door has been left open for Sam Allardyce to sign Jelle Vossen.

With six straight league defeats, Genk’s chances of winning the Jupiler League in Belgium have all but vanished and Vossen was said to have waved goodbye to supporters in the latest loss to Gent.

Middlesbrough have previously been linked in January, but a move to the Championship is not though to appeal to the 24-year-old, who has scored nine league goals this season and assisted another five.

Given that Aston Villa have benefited immensely from signing Christian Benteke from Genk, it is unsurprising that they have been linked, but Paul Lambert does not seem to be short on strikers.

This leaves Fulham and West Ham and another forward would assist the Hammers, even after getting Marco Boriello on loan from Roma.

It could take as much as £7m to tempt Genk to sell, but with West Ham also needing goals, it could prove money well spent.