West Ham United signed Suriname international striker Joël Piroe from Leeds United in August 2026 on an initial season-long loan, with an obligation to make the transfer permanent in the summer of 2027.

Piroe had been a prolific scorer in the EFL Championship, netting 73 goals across four seasons with Swansea City and Leeds United. He finished as the division’s leading marksman with 19 as Leeds won the title in 2024/25.

Born in the Netherlands, Suriname international Piroe came through PSV’s academy. He joined Swansea in summer 2021 and scored 44 goals in two seasons in south Wales. After moving to Leeds in 2023, he netted 33 more across two seasons to help the Yorkshire club return to the Premier League.

Career

Before West Ham

Born in the town of Wijchen in the Dutch province of Gelderland on 2 August 1999...Son of a father is of Indo-Surinamese descent, making him eligible to play international football for Suriname, a former Dutch colony in northern South America which declared independence in 1975, and a Dutch mother...Began his football career at the age of five and spent time with local clubs in the nearby city of Nijmegen, as well as Wijchen-based Woezik...Joined the youth academy of NEC in Nijmegen, where he was switched to the position of striker...Moved to Feyenoord in Rotterdam in 2013, before joining PSV in Eindhoven the following year...Scored 39 goals in 58 appearances for PSV U19s, helping the team win the U19 Spring Division 1 and Dutch U19 Cup titles in 2017...Scored in the 2018 Dutch U19 Cup final defeat by Feyenoord...Signed his first professional contract in November 2016, aged 17 years and three months. The following month, he made his Jong PSV debut against Jong Ajax in the second-tier Eerste Divisie...Had 33 direct goal involvements in 61 games for Jong PSV...Joined top-flight Eredivisie club Sparta Rotterdam on a season-long loan in 2019/20...Scored his first Eredivisie goal against Ajax in January 2020...Appeared in 20 of Sparta’s 26 league matches before the season was curtailed by the COVID pandemic, and scored in what turned out to be the last game of the campaign at Utrecht in March 2020...Returned to his parent club and made his PSV debut against Fortuna Sittard in October 2020. His first goal for PSV arrived two months later, a last-minute equaliser at Heerenveen...Signed for EFL Championship club Swansea City in July 2021...Scored on his debut for the Swans in an EFL Cup win at Reading on 10 August, then hit his first league goal on his second appearance in a Championship fixture against Stoke City a week later...Established himself as the regular striker for head coach Russell Martin, netted 22 goals in the Championship, and was voted the Welsh club’s Player of the Year...Scored 19 times as Swansea finished just three points outside the Championship Play-Offs in 2022/23...Joined then-EFL Championship club Leeds United in August 2023...Scored on his Leeds debut in a 4-3 Championship win at Ipswich Town on 26 August...Led the line as Leeds finished third and reached the Play-Offs. He scored in the semi-final win over Norwich City, but the Peacocks lost to Southampton in the final at Wembley Stadium...Appeared in all 46 matches and scored a division-best 19 goals as Leeds amassed 100 points and held off Burnley to win the title and promotion to the Premier League in 2023/24. He was named in the PFA Team of the Year...Made his international debut for Netherlands U15s in a friendly win over Republic of Ireland in Westervoort, near Arnhem, in November 2013...Scored his first international goal for Netherlands U16s in a friendly victory over Italy in Noordwijk in April 2015...Named in the Netherlands U19 squad for the 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship finals in Georgia. There, he scored a hat-trick in a group-stage win over Germany...Scored eight goals in 13 caps for the U19s, then added four more caps for the U20s, scoring and assisting in a friendly win over Mexico in March 2019...Switched international allegiance to Suriname in January 2026...Made his debut in a 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification inter-confederation play-off semi-final against Bolivia in March this year. Bolivia won the tie, played in Guadalupe, Mexico, and went on to qualify for the World Cup.

Honours

Club Honours

Leeds United EFL Championship (2024/25)

Individual Honours

UEFA European Under-19 Championship Golden Boot (2017) Swansea City Player of the Year (2021/22) EFL Championship Golden Boot (2024/25) PFA Championship Team of the Year (2024/25)