Brentford are determined not to sell Scott Hogan for less than their £15m valuation after rejecting West Ham’s latest offer worth up to £12.5m for the striker.
Slaven Bilic is desperate to add to his attacking options with Italy forward Simone Zaza likely to leave the club this month and Diafra Sakho still out injured. Having made an unofficial enquiry at the start of the month, West Ham’s first official bid of £9m was rejected last week and they returned with an improved offer of £10m before the weekend.
That was also summarily rejected by Brentford, whose manager, Dean Smith, left Hogan out of the squad for the 5-1 thrashing of non-league side Eastleigh in the FA Cup on Saturday which set up a fourth round tie against Premier League leaders Chelsea.
A third bid worth up to £12.5m in bonuses for the 24-year-old, who has scored 14 Championship goals this season, was submitted on Monday but it was again turned down due to the structure of the deal. Watford and Newcastle have also expressed an interest in signing Hogan, who has only 18 months remaining on his contract, but Walter Mazzarri’s side refused to increase their initial offer of £8m, while it is understood the player will only move to the Premier League.
Zaza, who joined on an initial loan deal from Juventus, is wanted by both Valencia and Fiorentina on a similar deal having failed to score in 11 appearances for West Ham. Jonathan Calleri, the Argentina under-23 striker who is on loan from Deportivo Maldonado, could also leave the club this month with clubs in Spain interested in taking him on loan.
