Bilic continues his waiting game

West Ham are still waiting on manager Slaven Bilic to give the go-ahead for Scott Hogan’s move across London from Brentford.

And in the meantime the club has explained that any hopes of bringing former striker Jermain Defoe to the London Stadium are “well and truly dead.”

Bilic – having seen the summer transfer programme go so wrong – is clearly being very careful before committing himself on any player.

However, it looks odds on that Hogan will be brought in given how advanced talks have become but Bilic is refusing to give the go ahead until every option has been exhausted.

That may suggest he isn’t quite as “sold” on the player as some might hope or that he simply wants to wait in the hope that a Premier League proven striker becomes available.

But that won’t be Defoe with ClaretandHugh being told today the deal “is now 100 per cent dead.”