Joel Piroe has joined West Ham on loan from Leeds this season, with the deal having an obligation to be made permanent if conditions are met
Joel Piroe is spending the season on loan with West Ham United.(Image: Jacques Feeney/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
Leeds United loanee Joel Piroe has said that part of his decision to leave the club for West Ham was due to London being a ‘much nicer city’ than Leeds. The striker completed a season-long loan move to the Hammers in the summer transfer window.
The deal includes an obligation that will make the move permanent next summer should West Ham earn promotion back to the Premier League. While the figure is undisclosed, LeedsLive reports that, including loan fees, it will be more than £10 million.
Piroe could, therefore, have played his final game for Leeds. He featured for just 15 minutes across pre-season, but during his three years at the club, he scored 34 goals and provided 10 assists in 118 first-team appearances.
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The 27-year-old made an instant impact at West Ham, scoring on his debut in a 2-1 loss against Charlton. But he has failed to find the net in his last three games in all competitions.
The Dutchman has been speaking about his decision to move to the London Stadium this summer, during an interview with De Voetbalkantine, via ESPN. But some of his comments may not go down too well with Leeds fans.
“London is obviously a much nicer city than Leeds,” he said. “And West Ham has a team worthy of the Premier League.
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“Just look at the stadium… Sold out, 60,000 fans – that’s not exactly the norm in the Championship. Especially in London, where West Ham United isn’t the biggest or most popular club.”
He also spoke about the reasons that he was willing to step back down to the Championship, after being a big part of the Leeds squad that earned promotion in 2025. “I feel like the Championship gave me the best opportunities to play a lot of matches,” he said.
“When you play a lot, you can showcase your qualities. That’s the main reason I chose a Championship team.
“You can play plenty of games and quickly find your rhythm. My goal is to score 20 goals.”
Piroe found himself behind both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha in the pecking order at Elland Road. With the Whites not adding to their striking department over the summer, there are some worries that the squad have been left short.
Joel Piroe dind’t feature much for Leeds last season. (Image: Danny Lawson/PA Wire.)
Speaking on the situation, Daniel Farke offered an explanation. “Yes, one or two more additions in the offence would have been good, but it always depends on having a player who helps us and is also affordable. And if not all boxes are ticked, and we can’t do this,” he said.
“And it makes no sense right now to speak about, ‘in this position we are a bit thin’ or ‘I would have liked whatever this position even a bit more’ – because what would my players think right now if I would tell them [this] right now after the windows closed?
“My strikers would think I don’t trust them. So you won’t hear one bad or negative word about this. I just described realistically because we were quite open and honest about what we wanted to do.
“But like I mentioned, I’m very happy with my players. They get all my attention, all my backing, of course. All the fingers are crossed that nothing happens in terms of injuries.
“But we have players who can score goals in the offence, who can also inspire our game, who can be creative.
“And I work right now with the players that I’ve got, and I’m also optimistic that we are capable of finding good solutions in the offence.”
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