Last night’s confirmation that Xand Silva will take Javier Hernandez’s squad position has all but ruled out a move for a free agent as striker cover following the departure of the Mexican. The published squad list named the maximum seventeen non-grown players including Xande with a further six homegrown players bringing the total squad excluding players under twenty-one to a squad of twenty-three.

Silva is expected to out of action until October as he recovers from emergency bowel obstruction surgery and was due to be left out the squad until Hernandez was sold earlier this week.

A senior club insider speaking to Claret and Hugh yesterday confirmed the club accepted that they were short of cover in the striker department but the manager had great faith in Albian Ajeti and was sure it would make his impact on the Premier League when required.

The Hammers will wait until January to decide whether to dip into the transfer market to add re-enforcements upfront.