Hammers make signing priorities clear

West Ham have no interest in signing new midfielders during the summer transfer window.

The club has been linked with various names in that area of the pitch – notably Manchester City veteran Yaya Toure but the club has made it clear to ClaretandHugh it is happy with its resources in that area.

And in what could be a very quiet summer window the only signings they now need are up top where Chelsea Michy Batshuayi and Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho  are major targets.

Speculation arose that we were set for a raid on Toure at the same time as co chairman David Sullivan was clinching a deal for Pablo Zabaletta.

But given that Cheik Kouyate – who in fact modelled his game on Toure and is five years younger – is on a long contract until 2021, that was never a goer.

And we were told: “We are absolutely fine in that area of the pitch with Cheik, Manu Lanzini, Mark Noble, Edmilson Fernandes, Rob Snodgrass, Sofiane Feghouli and top youngsters coming through.

We are looking solely at strikers right now but there’s a lot of clubs in the same market place.”