Not guilty plea from Hammers
Sky Sports claimed that the Hammers had lodged a formal bid while they added that Newcastle, Fulham and Spurs are also all on the hunt for the services of the 25-year-old French forward, who scored 20 goals last season. It is understood the French club want 30m euros (£26.6m) with one other club having already made an offer of £25m. Plea began his career at Lyon before moving to Nice in August 2014 for 500,000 Euros.
West Ham have been linked with Plea since March this year after David Moyes when L’Equipe ran an article linking the Hammers with the young striker, however, club insiders insist that a striker is not the main priority under Manuel Pellegrini as it stands and a current striker would need to leave for that to change. Pellegrini and new director of football Mario Husillos have their own targets.