West Ham are closing in on a deal to bring in England international Jesse Lingard but first, they must free up a loan space in their squad.
Currently, West Ham have the maximum two domestic loan players in their squad, Craig Dawson from Watford and Said Benrahma from Brentford.
In order to complete the loan agreement for Lingard, The Hammers must make one of these loan moves permanent or much less likely let Dawson return to Watford.
The Benrahma deal was a season-long loan for £5million with an obligation to buy for a further £20m with a potential £5m in add-ons.
It was reported in The Guardian that West Ham are planning on bringing the permanent transfer of Benrahma forward to this week in order to free up the spot needed for Lingard.
However, football.london has spoken with Brentford manager Thomas Frank who is unaware of any such thing:
"No, I've not heard. That's for Rasmus [Ankersen] and Phil [Giles] to deal with. They will give me a heads up when something happens," said Frank.
Ankerson and Giles are the co-directors of Football at the West London club and deal with all transfer activity at the Brentford Community Stadium, and it seems they have not informed their manager about any West Ham move for Benrahma.
West Ham may still seal a move for Lingard but there is still some way to go in dotting the i's and crossing the t's.
A move for Lingard will be welcomed by David Moyes who has said on a number of occasions since the departure of Robert Snodgrass and Sebastien Haller his squad is a 'wee bit light'.
The Lingard transfer should not impinge on The Hammer's ability to bring in a Haller replacement with the current name in the frame being South Korean international Hwan Hee Chang.
The 25-year-old has found it hard to adapt to the Bundesliga this season but had a good record at his previous club in Austria RB Salzburg.
