Crystal Palace have leapfrogged West Ham in the race to sign Fiorentina striker Khouma Babacar for £15million, according to Mail.
The newspaper claim that the Hammers face the prospect of two striker transfers collapsing with their bid to offload Diafro Sakho to Palace also stalling.
The Mail report that West Ham had been in pole position to sign Babacar, 24, on an initial loan this month with the option to buy him permanently in the summer.
It is said that Palace have “stolen a march” on their London rivals by hijacking their deal and agreeing to Fiorentina’s terms in full for the signing of the Senegal international as they close in on a £15million permanent transfer.
Meanwhile, Roy Hodgson’s side are losing interest in signing West Ham forward Sakho following a breakdown in talks.
Babacar has made 17 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring five goals and registering two assists.
The forward has also won three caps for Senegal, but is yet to score his first goal at international level.
OPINION
With Christian Benteke a shadow of his former self in a campaign in which he has registered just a single goal, Hodgson badly needs a line leader who can be relied upon to score goals in the second half of the season. Babacar has a good record at Fiorentina of 39 goals from 127 matches and could provide Palace with the injection of cutting edge that they need to support star man Wilfried Zaha. It would be quite a coup for Palace to beat West Ham to the signature of Babacar. With doubts about all of the Hammers’ senior centre-forwards – Andy Carroll, Javier Hernandez and Sakho – there promises to be some transfer twists and turns in the coming weeks, although they will not want to lose out to their capital rivals for Babacar.