Source: Telegraph
West Ham to sign Livorno striker Alessandro Diamanti to ease their striker crisis
However, as with an agreement to sign Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh, it is understood that West Ham cannot push through with the deals until they raise some funds from the sale of players.
It is hoped that either Aston Villa, who have made a move for Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin, or Everton will make a formal bid for central defender James Collins, who is available for £5 million.
West Ham would alternatively consider selling Matthew Upson if they received a bid of £15 million. Liverpool met that asking price last week but the transfer was vetoed by the club's bankers, who did not want to release the funds.
As with any transfer at West Ham the final decision on a sale rests with manager Gianfranco Zola, but with eight defenders at his disposal and one senior striker in Carlton Cole, he wants to improve his attacking options.
Zola has tracked Diamanti for some time and, it has emerged, he is the manager's top transfer target for the summer.
The striker is 26 and had a difficult time in his early career but has managed to gets things back on track and is, undeniably, a talent.
West Ham chief executive Scott Duxbury travelled to Italy on Monday to negotiate the deal with Livorno's director of sport, Nelso Ricci, who over the weekend had claimed Diamanti would sign a new deal, revealing that the player had "begged us in tears to let him join West Ham".
Ricci added: "He said this is the opportunity of a lifetime. He thanked the president for having signed him from Prato in Serie C2, but now he wants to leave.
"West Ham will pay £5.5 million in three years. What could [President Aldo] Spinelli do other than sell a player who no longer wants to be here? We cannot keep unhappy players.
"Spinelli had already improved Diamanti's contract to match the higher earners, like [Cristiano] Lucarelli."
Diamanti, a free-kick specialist, was one of the stars of Livorno's promotion to Serie A, scoring 16 goals in Serie B last season and providing many assists.
If the deal goes through, Zola is likely to pair him with Luis Jimenez behind Cole. He also hopes to sign Chamakh.
