West Ham United Coach Slaven Bilic is ready to parade new January signing, Emmanuel Emenike, against Southampton hoping to prove immediately that he is king of the bargain hunters.
To that end, Bilic is ready to throw the Nigeria international straight into the mix in a new-look West Ham forward line on Saturday.
“He is going to train with us today for the first time,” he said. “He is naturally fit but I would like to see him.
“He only arrived yesterday in London because of the work permit issue and other stuff. He will train with us and I will make a decision.
“Furthermore, Andy Carroll is back training with us since Monday. He was on the pitch for 10 days before that. We are going to see him a later today and a little bit tomorrow but he should be involved.”
That is not to say Bilic is not wary of the impact Austin can have for the visitors.
“He is a great player,” he said. “He is not one of those who has just done it in the Championship and there is a bit of a question-mark because Charlie scored many goals in the Premier League in the season that QPR got relegated.
“To get him that sort of money – and then have him score the winner in his first game at Old Trafford – he should be a great buy.
“I was a little bit surprised he went for that money in England. He is definitely a player with the quality to play for the West Ham and most teams in the Premier League, but we had different targets. We have enough strikers and were hoping for a different type of player.”
