West Ham United have held preliminary talks with Joey Barton and could make him their sixth signing of the summer if an agreement can be reached with the former Queens Park Rangers midfielder.
The 32-year-old has been looking for a club since he was released by QPR following their relegation from the Premier League last season and West Ham have emerged as surprise contenders, although both parties are understood to be keeping their options open. Barton had held hopes of a return to Marseille, but the French club said that his wage demands were too high.
Although West Ham began their season with an impressive 2-0 victory over Arsenal on Sunday, they are still looking to make further additions to Slaven Bilic’s squad, which lacks depth in a couple of positions. West Ham’s hopes of qualifying for the Europa League were ended by Astra Giurgiu last week and Bilic was forced to play a reserve side in the second leg to avoid any more injuries to key players before the Arsenal game, having already seen Enner Valencia ruled out until October with a knee problem.
West Ham have been interested in signing Alex Song from Barcelona. Song enjoyed a largely productive loan spell at Upton Park last season and West Ham are attractive to Song because of his family’s desire to live in London, but the move was held up after the 27-year-old midfielder suffered an ankle injury in pre-season. That has led to Bilic looking elsewhere and Barton, who worked as a pundit on Aston Villa’s win over Bournemouth, is available on a free transfer.
West Ham have already signed Stephen Hendrie, Pedro Obiang, Angelo Ogbonna, Dimitri Payet and Darren Randolph, and they are in the market for a striker. They have been attempting to secure a loan deal for Atlético Madrid’s Mexican striker, Raúl Jiménez, and are one of the clubs who are looking at QPR’s Charlie Austin.
