West Ham have moved ahead of London rivals Crystal Palace in race to sign French striker Loic Remy as Sun Sport have revealed talks have begun over a £8m deal.
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The Chelsea man has been given permission by Jose Mourinho to speak with the Hammers after telling his team-mates that he has no future with the West London outfit.
Remy made 20 league appearances for the Premier League champions last season, but only six of which came as a starter and is understood to be seeking a move away from Stamford Bridge in the search of regular first team football next year.
Sky Sports have reported a loan move for AS Monaco striker Radamel Falcao is looking increasingly likely and that would mean Remy would surely have to settle for a third choice role should he stay, with appearances already limited for him in his first season with Chelsea.
New Hammers boss Slaven Bilic is thought to be keen on building his team around the former Marseille man and will be hoping to fend of competition from Palace, who are also interested in the striker.
The Eagles have been strongly linked with the Frenchman as manager Alan Pardew is reportedly [via Mirror Sport] eyeing a reunion with the man who scored 14 league goals for him at Newcastle United in the 2013-14 season.
Remy did show throughout the campaign that he can still be a deadly finisher in front of goal as he struck vital winners against Hull City and Stoke City respectively in the Blues’ title winning year.
With West Ham suffering so much from injuries to key attackers like Andy Carroll in recent times, it makes sense that Bilic has looked at Remy as a good option to come in and improve his side up front. With the sides narrowly above them in the table conceding more goals but also scoring more, this looks a good area for the Hammers to try and improve upon for next year.