West Ham are ready to hand Connor Wickham a big pay increase to join the club.
However, they first have to convince Sunderland to sell the player who is out of contract in a year.
Despite being unsure whether they can entice the player out of the Stadium of Light, the Hammers are ready to try again.
A source told ClaretandHugh exclusively: “Sunderland are adopting a very strong position with the player despite him only having 12 months left on a deal at the end of which he could go for nothing.
“However, we are likely to up our bid and hope to be given permission to speak with the player.”
Currently the England under 21 is on around £23,000 with the Black Cats and the Irons are certainly ready to push that to over £30,000.”
