West Ham, along with Leicester, Liverpool, Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach, have had scouts watch Fiorentina forward Josip Ilicic last season ahead of a possible summer move.
According to Ghanasoccernet, Leicester are leading the race to sign Ilicic during this transfer window as they are the most likely club to meet Fiorentina’s £11.5m asking price.
The 28-year-old can operate as an attacking midfielder/secondary striker or as a right winger and had a strong season in Serie A last term, scoring 13 goals in 30 appearances. He has 44 goals and 26 assists in 174 appearances all time in Italian football.
It’s also possible for Fiorentina to hand the Slovenian attacker a contract extension, but talks have been tabled while there is considerable interest in Ilicic this summer.
West Ham have been keen to add another attacking midfielder/winger to their ranks despite the arrival of Sofiane Feghouli on a free transfer from Valencia earlier this month.
A deal to sign Gokhan Tore from Besiktas is proving hard to agree upon, while it remains likely he will ultimately be a West Ham player by the start of the season.
The Hammers have also shown interest in the likes of Matt Ritchie, Hatem Ben Arfa and Ante Coric but at this stage none of those players will be joining up for ore-season.
