Sam Allardyce is desperately scratching around the loan market for a central defender due to a mini injury crisis.
Winston Reid is currently out with a shoulder problem and Guy Demel is still trying to gain full fitness, leaving no cover in the middle of defence for James Tompkins or Abdoulaye Faye.
First of all the Hammers tried to land Manchester City’s Nedum Onuoha, but he turned them down as he didn’t fancy it in the Championship and would rather get paid for just training and playing golf.
Then it was Arsenal’s forgotten man, Sebastien Squillaci, but this could be blocked by the Gunner’s desire to offload the player in January, something they would not be able to do if he had played at Upton Park due to FIFA’s rule that limits the number of clubs a player represents in one season to only two.
Another option for the Hammers would be try and sign the French defender on a permanent contract, but it is unlikely West Ham would take that much of a risk on a £40,000 a week player after getting their figures burnt so many times in recent years.
Next up is former Real Madrid defender Francisco Pavon, who was in their Champions League winning squad of 2002.
Allardyce tried to sign the 31-year-old whilst at Bolton but the deal fell through and Pavon joined Real Zaragoza.
Of all the enquiries this is the more likely to happen as the Spaniard is currently a free agent after being released by French second division side Arles-Avingon who were relegated from Ligue 1 last season.
