West Ham are working hard to tie Reece Oxford down to a long term contract but are acutely aware interest from Manchester United may turn his head.

Slaven Bilic has publicly urged the teenager to follow in the footsteps of Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, [Joe] Cole, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick by pledging his future to the Irons.

The club is in negotiations with Oxford’s agent Adrian Ward – who also looks after the affairs of Raheem Sterling – and know that talks will be long and involved.

The player is valued at around £10 million but the club could miss out if the player’s price ever went to arbitration and so they are keen to get a deal in place soon.

A source revealed to ClaretandHugh that the Oxford team were in no hurry to conclude a deal given they have 18 months left on his deal but that the club were keen to get the deal done to avoid possible later complications.

The urgency was probably shown when Bilic chose to somment on the situation publicly  today saying: “At his age Ferdinand, Lampard,  Cole, Jermain Defoe and  Carrick went on loan short-term, came back and became regulars at West Ham and had time to become world class players.”

Arsenal and Manchester City are also keen on Oxford but Bilic hopes the England Under-20 international will agree a new contract with the Irons sooner rather than later.

The Croat added: “I know his representatives are talking to the club and hopefully it will be sorted soon, in a good way.”