West Ham made a late bid for Bayer Leverkusen’s Odilon Kossounou before the transfer deadline, according to The Sun.

The newspaper reports that the Hammers wanted to strengthen their defensive ranks in the final hours of the window.

And Kossounou emerged as a target after falling out of favour with the Bundesliga club.

David Moyes’ side made a loan offer worth £1m but saw it knocked back by the German side, as they paid £20m to sign him last summer.

Kossounou is a 21-year-old Ivory Coast international with 15 caps under his belt.

He has made a total of 37 appearances for Leverkusen since his move in 2021 and is under contract until 2026; the move makes sense, too, given that he can play in a number of positions, including right-back and defensive midfield.

The Irons signed Thilo Kehrer and Nayef Aguerd in the summer to bolster their centre-back ranks, and also brought in Emerson from Chelsea.