Move for defender not allowed by PL

The Premier League has confirmed to clubs that they cannot sign any players from Russia or Ukraine before the summer transfer window, scotching any talk of West Ham signing Dejan Lovren.

The club had been linked with a potential move to bring the former Liverpool man into the club, as he is currently on the books at Zenit St Petersburg.

Russia has effectively been made a sporting outcast since its invasion of Ukraine and there was talk that players could be allowed to find other clubs outside of the usual two transfer windows in a season.

That raised the prospect of the Hammers potentially bringing Lovren in on a free, but we have been told by a top Irons source that the move is an impossibility.

The Premier League has ruled against such moves, insisting that they go against the sporting integrity of the competition.

And a Hammers insider explained that a move for L:ovren at his age – 33 in July –  wouldn’t have been on anyway describing it as “made up again.”

West Ham are likely to make an attempt to sign a defender in the summer, though, as David Moyes looks to replenish his backline.