It's hard to think of a West Ham signing who has had a bigger instant impact than Jesse Lingard. The only person who comes close in terms of goals and assists is Paul Kitson, still the only striker my pal Nigel has seen score a hat-trick without West Ham winning (in a 4-4 draw at Charlton). The signings of Kitson and Paul Hartson by Harry Redknapp in 1997 certainly had a massive impact in taking West Ham out of the relegation zone.
More recently Dimitri Payet also had a massive impact when he joined the Irons in 2015. He certainly inspired the side to their seventh-placed finish (and it should have been higher), although his early games included home defeats by Bournemouth and Leicester. Even Paolo Di Canio had a fairly slow start as he came back to match fitness after a long suspension for pushing over ref Paul Alcock when with Sheffield Wednesday.
Looking further Frank McAvennie and to a lesser extent Mark Ward were the signings that propelled West Ham to their best ever finish of third place in 1986. While in 1975 Alan Taylor signed from Rochdale and scored a brace in the FA Cup quarter-final, the semi final and the Final against Fulham.
But it's hard to argue that anyone has had a bigger impact in goals and assists than Lingard. Let's hope there's more to come at Newcastle today.
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