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French news outlet L’Equipe are reporting on ‘X ‘ this afternoon that West Ham are back in the striker market place with a bang, the latest name to resurface being that of Lens frontman Elye Wahi.  We had heard the name of this exciting front man earlier in the window but presumably all Irons’ interest subsided when the focus went to Jhon Duran.

The full post from L’Equipe is hardly extensive: ‘Now it’s West Ham and Leicester’s turn to position themselves on Elye Wahi’ – but it rings true that there is a forensic (if not yet frantic) search amongst European strikers taking place as West Ham seek to move on from the stalemated negotiations with Aston Villa .

Possibly this is merely a ruse to  lure them back to the table in a more reasonable state of mind by identifying other equally suitable targets? Time will tell: Tim Steidten was rumoured to be in the hunt for Wahi last summer before he left Montpelier but then the whole Lucas Paqueta scandal broke and the funds never materialised to allow the purchase of the striker to develop and he was sold to Lens.

Wahi is an exciting centre forward – only 21 and approaching the best years of his career and just one year into a contract at Lens, so he won’t come cheap. 41 goals in 112 games in French League 1 is a scoring rate which would make him a serious, tried and tested addition..

35-40 million euros is quoted across various sites so whether The Hammers actually get to table a realistic bid – the emphasis being on realistic – we will have to wait and see. He’d certainly be a magnificent addition to the squad at London Stadium but – would he want to come?

Forever named ‘Else What’ by my Mac Book autocorrect, the French International would surely be looking for European Football – deja vu going on here. Lots of hurdles on this one.