Irons eye Brighton boy as Reid replacement

West Ham are keeping a close check on Brighton and Hove Albion central defender Lewis Dunk as the Winston Reid ‘soap opera’ rumbles on.

The Hammers will refuse to be held to ransom in talks this week with the central defender’s advisers and are very keen on the Brighton-born 6ft 4in 22 year old .

A Hammers source confirmed the player as a possible target to ClaretandHugh declaring: “Obviously given the situation we need to be looking at our options and Dunk would be prominent among them.”

Dunk is a graduate of the Albion Centre of Excellence and was called into the England under 21 set up a couple of seasons back.

However the Hammers will be forced to pay top dollar of around £5 million to get the player who recently signed a new four year deal with Albion.

It was difficult to make a move in the summer with the wage bill as it was given Reid’s presence in the squad.

But should the Kiwi move on the Hammers are set to move on the player who is believed to have a release clause in his new contract at around the £5 million mark

His wage would be around the same as  Reid who is currently on £25k a week with our source declaring:  “He’s one of the best defenders in the Championship.”

So far this season the defender has scored five times in 14 appearances.