West Ham intensify pursuit of Javier Hernandez
West Ham United have reportedly stepped up their pursuit to sign Bayer Leverkusen striker Javier Hernandez following the lack of firepower in the forward department.
The club have been a hit or miss over the past year with Slaven Bilic struggling to find the right marksman to lead the line.
The Mexico international has enjoyed his best spell with Bayer Leverkusen in recent seasons, and he is said to be eyeing a return to the English top-flight. Hernandez has a meagre release clause of £13m on his contract, and the east London club are confident of sealing a deal for his services with the promise of a record package of around £145,000 a week, The Mirror claims.
The move comes about following the Hammers' 0-0 pre-season draw against Austrian club Strum Graz II - a game which they should have won by a comfortable scoreline. Andre Ayew missed three clear-cut chances to put the Hammers in front in the first-half and Bilic believes that his team have lacked the intensity starting from the training ground.
Bilic said: "It was a competitive game – Sturm Graz were a very lively team and they can play football. Of course they are at a different level, and we should have scored maybe five or six goals. But, to be fair, we are not scoring enough goals in training at the moment, so it was the same in the game, but running-wise it was a good session for us."
West Ham will be without both Diafra Sakho and Andy Carroll during the start of the season, and this has increased their need to sign Hernandez, who could require some time on his return to the Premier League. Hernandez became Mexico's all-time top-scorer earlier this year as he bagged the opener in the 2-1 friendly defeat to Croatia in Los Angeles.