Hammers bid rejection mystery

Reports that West Ham had a new bid for Fulham’s captain Tom Cairney have been described as recycled at best and fabricated at worst.  The Hammers long-term transfer target was scouted under both Slaven Bilic and David Moyes and two bids reportedly worth £15m and £18m were rejected last January by Fulham.

Intermediaries enquired again at the start of this summer transfer window but were firmly told by Fulham he is not for sale and not to bother.

Club insiders say the chances of landing Cairney are extremely slim unless Fulham have a change of heart and say no formal bid has been lodged this summer as suggested by Sky Sports yesterday. Manuel Pellegrini and new director of football Mario Husillos have their own transfer targets without recycling former scouted targets and we are told the new manager wants to make his own mark by bringing in his own players.

Tom Cairney shares the same agent as Hammers Ryan Fredericks, Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Chiek Kouyate and Pedro Obiang.

Will Salthouse is the agent in question from Unique Sports Mangement and was heavily in bringing Marko Arnautovic to West Ham.