Source: Telegraph
West Ham given deadline to meet Bordeaux's £7m Marouanne Chamakh valuation
The French club are demanding £7 million - plus 25 per cent of any sell-on fee for the 25-year-old Moroccan international.
West Ham are hoping to meet the fee being asked for the striker but do not want to negotiate any extra clauses for Chamakh who has been of interest to Arsenal and who has just one year left on his contract.
Related ArticlesWest Ham close in on £7m ChamakhWest Ham 'to sell Collins for £5m'Neill will have to drop West Ham demandsWest Ham re-sign KovacWest Ham look to ChamakhWest Ham chief executive Scott Duxbury will continue negotiations today. Club sources claim that despite Bordeaux's demands, West Ham remain hopeful. The striker is keen to join West Ham but said that Bordeaux, who originally wanted £15, for him, may be pricing him out of a move.
A blow to West Ham would be if, as it appears possible, James Collins' £5m - £3.5m plus £1.5m in incentives move to Stoke City collapses. The fee has been agreed between the two clubs but, after talks, it's understood that Collins has so far failed to agree personal terms. Stoke want him to take a pay cut but the 25-year-old is resisting even though he is not central to the plans of West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola.
Zola is desperate to sign at least one striker before the transfer window closes at the end of this month and now Bordeaux appear to have set their own, unofficial, deadline a week earlier. Chamakh said of the prospect of leaving: 'My chances are reducing more and more. I am pessimistic. I will wait until Monday before there is an announcement and I expect to stay.'
However West Ham, who face Tottenham Hotspur at home on Sunday and would like to parade a new signing before that game, will continue to hold talks and, last night, sources indicated that they were close to reaching an agreement.
