A West Ham insider has admitted that talks have stalled in the club’s pursuit of Kelechi Iheanacho but insists that a deal is not yet dead.
Ex-WHU Employee, who is a reliable source of Hammers news and has broken a number of stories about the club this season, revealed in his exclusive column for The West Ham Way that talks have proven “quite frustrating”.
West Ham have made it their intention to pursue at least one proven Premier League goalscorer this summer, and the Manchester City outcast has emerged as one of their top targets.
It was reported by the Sun last month that the Hammers had lodged a £20million bid for the Nigerian international, and EX-WHU Employee has since revealed that talks between the two clubs are still ongoing.
However, the insider also divulged that the club were facing a number of potential setbacks in their pursuit of the 20-year-old striker, with talks “not as productive” as they had hoped.
The insider said: “Talks have been ongoing and largely around his buy-back clause. These talks have been quite frustrating and not as productive as we would have hoped however they are not dead.
“Iheanacho wants to stay at Manchester City and the injury to Gabriel Jesus in the week is not ideal. The situation however is that he was told he will leave the club and that he has to brace himself for this.
“There are other clubs interested in him and it will be interesting to see how this transfer develops over the week however he is still very much a target of ours.”
Iheanacho was handed just nine starts in all competitions last season, having fallen down the pecking order during Pep Guardiola’s debut season at the club.
The youngster still managed to score seven goals from his 29 appearances in all competitions, but his lack of regular first-team football has opened the door to a potential move to West Ham.
Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is determined to strengthen his goalscoring options after winger Michail Antonio finished as the club’s top scorer last season with just nine league goals, despite scoring his final goal in March.