A lot was made of the signing of 6”6 striker Wout Weghorst when he put pen to paper on a deal with the Clarets from Wolfsburg to replace the outgoing Chris Wood on deadline day of the January window.
The big Dutchman had been consistently slamming goals in, at a rate of 1 in just over ever 2 games. He’d struck 59 times for Wolfsburg, including 20 in the Bundesliga the season before he joined the Clarets. Clarets fans seemed absolutely over the moon, replacing a massively out of form Chris Wood with a striker who was renowned as a lethal finisher, whilst also being a regular in the Netherlands squad. He left fans frothing at the mouth after a fantastic assist for Jay Rodriguez, Weghorst took the ball into feet, chopped Harry Maguire inside out before an inch perfect pass into Rodriguez to salvage a point against Manchester United. He wouldn’t get on the scoresheet for the Clarets until a trip to the Amex stadium in February of 2022, smashing in a finish from the edge of the box, which Burnley fans thought would be the catalyst for him to fly, and save Burnley’s season. This, however, wasn’t the case. Once long-standing manager Sean Dyche lost his job, the goals dried up for Weghorst, his only other strike in his 20 games for Burnley came at the London Stadium, nodding in from near enough on the line to grab a point against West Ham. Weghorst was taken off after an hour in the crunch clash against Watford and looked visibly frustrated, this performance epitomised Weghorst’s Clarets career to date. Weghorst was a victim of Sean Dyche’s style of play, and Mike Jackson didn’t change the style completely, but seemed to get a little more out of the players. The basis for the Clarets was to be able to hit a big diagonal, a big striker to back in, and get up the field to alleviate pressure quickly, now, despite Weghorst’s huge frame this wasn’t something he was adept at. And with the squad aging, and lacking investment, aswell as having notable injuries, Weghorst’s form was markedly poor through to the end of the season, including a miss against Aston Villa, which was superbly blocked by Tyrone Mings, but nonetheless, a striker as clinical as Weghorst, should not be hitting a defender from the distance he did.
Weghorst eventually left, and after a clash with Connor Roberts on international duty, Clarets fans vilified the big Dutch striker, until the day he left on loan for Besiktas. Weghorst openly stated in an interview that Dutch manager Louis Van Gaal would not pick him for the World Cup if he was in the Championship, so he had to get away, if only temporarily. With 6 goals in 12 games, Weghorst looks to be edging back to some kind of form, despite a recent penalty miss. With Jay Rodriguez coming towards the latter stages of his career, Ashley Barnes being relatively ineffective, and Halil Dervisoglu only on loan, would you take Weghorst back in January or the summer, Clarets fans?