Chelsea beat a host of clubs to snaring Michy Batshuayi from Marseille last summer.
The Belgian helped keep the Ligue 1 outfit up and was rewarded with a £33million move to Stamford Bridge.
Quite what the point of that signing was remains unclear, as Antonio Conte hasn’t given him a single Premier League start.
The 23-year-old has scored five goals in all competitions, but that tally can’t really be used against him when he has been afforded so few minutes on the pitch.
West Ham were one of the clubs interested a year ago, and Slaven Bilic remains an admirer of the striker.
The main obstacle in the way of a switch to the London Stadium is that Chelsea are unwilling to send him out on loan.
According to the Mirror, they will tell West Ham that they will need to sign him permanently, so the Blues can free up space on their books for a new, world-class striker.
Diego Costa is also likely to leave west London, making it imperative that Conte finds a high calibre centre forward.
West Ham may have to front up the money, though, as their need is even greater amid Andy Carroll and Diafra Sakho’s persistent injury problems.
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