West Ham surprise leaders in race for Liverpool outcast Nathaniel Clyne – report

West Ham United are somewhat surprise leaders in the bidding to sign Liverpoool and England outcast Nathaniel Clyne, according to reports.

Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini is in the market for six new players this summer as he continues to reshape the squad he inherited from from David Moyes and Slaven Bilic.

Among the six is said to be a fullback.

And it appears Liverpool’s Clyne is that man. It comes after the 28-year-old lost his place to Trent Alexander-Arnold for club and country.

That’s according to a report from Goal and repeated by The Daily Star which claims West Ham are leading the likes of Bournemouth – where Clyne spent last season on loan – for his signature.

Clyne has plenty of experience with 14 England caps to his name.

His prospects of game time have been all but ended, though, by the emergence of Alexander-Arnold.

If accurate, West Ham’s move may come as something of a surprise.

Ryan Fredericks looked to have finally found his feet at the tail end of last season. Indeed the defender even used an interview with Match of the Day to urge Pellegrini not to waste money on a new right-back this summer, read full story here.

Experienced Pablo Zabaleta has also been retained on a one-year deal.

And the Hammers have young Ben Johnson emerging from the academy too.

The links will have many West Ham fans scratching their heads. Particularly as the need to strengthen in other areas of the team is more acute.

But Pellegrini may see Clyne’s availability as too good to turn down with Zabaleta unlikely to play beyond next season.

Clyne proved he is over persistent injury problems with a productive loan spell at Bournemouth last term.

The player too may favour a return to London where he played for Crystal Palace before moving to Anfield.

With a modest £30million transfer budget and signing two strikers and a box-to-box midfielder the priorities, the move for Clyne could be funded by the sale of Aaron Cresswell to Everton (Football Insider).

The fact Clyne is English is also very important to West Ham.