West Ham striker Diafra Sakho has told the club he wants to leave in January having seen a summer exit to Rennes fall through, and the Hammers are already identifying options to help bolster their forwardline in his absence.
Reports claim the club are lining up Newcastle’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and Krasnodar’s Fyodor Smolov as targets to help fill the void the exit of the October 2014 Premier League Player of the Month will create.
Mitrovic is also out of favour at Tyneside, and is yet to start a league game like Sakho.
The Serbian is keen on a temporary exit in order to boost his chances of playing at the World Cup, and it remains to be seen if the regular minutes he seeks will be afforded him at east London.
Smolov is no doubt the better of the duo, with his 56 goals in 87 games for Krasnodar an impressive return.
Real Madrid are also keen on the Russia international, while he has expressed reservations about the Hammers’ style of play.
Nevertheless, West Ham are expected to go after the 2 next month, with Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott and Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge and Danny Ings also linked.
