West Ham United look set for another busy transfer window with Marko Arnuatovic reportedly looking to engineer a move away from the London Stadium this month, but Pedro Obiang could also leave the club as interest in his signature begins to intensify across Europe.

Obiang's departure will not quite cut deep into the core of the club like Arnautovic's departure would, but with a lack of strength in depth in midfield there's no question he would need replacing if he eventually agreed to move away from east London.

A recent report from the Daily Mail claimed that Fiorentina are interested in securing a deal for Obiang, but now Sky Sports' Dharmesh Sheth has suggested that the Serie A club will face competition from Lille while speaking on the Transfer Talk podcast.

"We're told now that two clubs are interested.

"Fiorentina it looked like were in the box-seat. An offer worth £9 million was on the table but that seems to have stalled and that’s because of the structure of the payments."

Sheth went on to add: "And with that one stalling Lille have now entered the fray with what's considered to be a more acceptable deal for West Ham United, but it should be said that Obiang’s preference would be to go to Fiorentina.”

Providing that Pellegrini is able to source a replacement for Obiang, it appears that the 26-year-old midfielder is likely to leave the club this month.

The main sticking point, clearly, is the structure of the deal Fiorentina have offered, but if they are willing to change that it seems Obiang is ready to move to Italy before the end of the month.

Obiang's departure would not be regarded as a huge blow for the club as there are a handful of superior options residing within the squad, but he is one of those unsung squad players which every club needs and failure to replace him would leave Pellegrini desperately short of options in midfield.

Lille may well be offering the Hammers a more attractive deal at this moment in time but Obiang's personal desire to return to Italy could render it futile.

West Ham fans - thoughts on Obiang? Let us know below!