Everton look to hijack West Ham offer for midfielder

West Ham will need to significantly increase their initial bids for Leander Dendoncker if they want to land him before the January transfer window closes next week after Sam Allardyce and Everton reportedly offered the chance to sign the Anderlecht defensive midfielder.

Anderlecht chief executive Herman van Holsbeeck said: “Dendoncker is the centrepiece of our defence.  If we let him leave it has to be for a lot of money. We also have to find a replacement for him, even if it is a loan for six months.

“A deal can be done if the interested club puts 25 or 30million euros (£22m-26.5m) on the table for him. I’ve experienced plenty of difficult transfer windows, but this one is the trickiest of all.”

West Ham are said to have tabled a bid £16m to the Belgium team which was later increased to £17m.

Reports suggest Anderlecht will let Everton sign him as long as they agree to loan Dendoncker back for the rest of the 2017/18 season. Henry Onyekuru is already on loan at the reigning Belgian champions from Goodison Park.