West Ham have set up their first round of talks with Nice left back  Timothée Kolodziejczak who will arrive for talks with David Sullivan in London this week.

ClaretndHugh has discovered exclusively that the player is an identical situation to that faced by newly signed midfielder/defender Cheikhou Kouyate at the same stage of his negotiations.

A source told us:”Timothee is desperately keen to join the club but despite reports in Europe to the contrary, we still haven’t agreed a fee.

“We’ve been very encouraged by the player’s attitude as it’s clear he wants to play for us and he will be arriving in London this week for talks with the co-chairman.

“However, the club doesn’t feel under pressure at this stage as it had several other options although Kolodziejczak is a player they’d like to get.

“He’s been on the radar for some time and our negotiators will be hoping to tie things up quickly.”