According to an exclusive report by FC Inter News, West Ham United have had a £12m bid rejected for Inter Milan loanee Joao Mario.

The Irons took the Portugal international on a temporary deal until the end of the season during the January transfer window without any clause leading to a permanent move, and it seems as though the east London outfit have been impressed enough to launch an official offer for the 25-year-old.

However, considering the Serie A giants bought him for £35m in the summer of 2016 it is no surprise that the Hammers' first bid for the Euro 2016 winner has been rejected, with the Italian club likely to demand a significantly higher fee for the player.

The midfielder, who is usually deployed in an attacking role, has made six appearances for David Moyes' men so far, although he was dropped to the substitutes' bench for the trip to Swansea City following the 4-1 defeat against Liverpool beforehand.

Meanwhile, the Irons were also linked with Norwich City starlet James Maddison in the previous transfer window, with the highly-rated attacking midfielder shining for Norwich City in the Championship.

The Mirror reported last month that the Canaries reportedly value the 21-year-old at £30m, and he is said to be a target for Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester City among other top flight clubs.

Here are three reasons West Ham must forget Joao Mario and sign the England U21 international instead…

While the likes of Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City are reportedly keen to sign Maddison, if he does leave Norwich this summer he will surely be looking to move to a club where he will play regularly to continue his development.

Those three aforementioned clubs may be attractive on paper because of their size, but they almost certainly wouldn’t be able to make the guarantees that West Ham could about him playing regularly.

The 21-year-old is sort of talent the east London outfit can build their team around as they look to build for the future, and he would probably be a better long-term investment than Joao Mario would be, too.

Joao Mario has been solid, if unspectacular, for West Ham following his January move from Inter Milan, and the east London outfit may feel that the impressive Maddison could make more of an impression than the Portugal international, who Irons fans are still undecided on, at the London Stadium given his statistics from the current season.

The England U21 international has scored 14 goals and provided a further 10 assists in 41 appearances in all competitions, while he has shown the quality he has on the ball by successfully completing 88 of the 125 dribbles he has attempted in 36 Championship appearances this term, according to WhoScored.com, while he has made a remarkable 95 key passes.

All of those statistics point to the bright future that Maddison clearly has ahead of him, and it would be no surprise to see him become an England regular in years to come.

West Ham only have to look at rivals Tottenham Hotspur to see how well a player plucked from the lower leagues can do following the success of Dele Alli, and bringing the 21-year-old Norwich City star to the London Stadium would be a statement of intent from the club to the supporters that they are ready to show some ambition and build for the future, rather than solely concentrating on the present as they often have by bringing in older players like Jose Fonte and Pablo Zabaleta.

Do you agree, Irons fans? Let us know below.